Late last week the FCC voted unanimously to move forward to the next phase on the rule making process regarding net neutrality.  The vote will allow the FCC to begin formulating new regulations which, advocates maintain, will prevent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from favoring certain Internet destinations over others in the traffic which moves across their networks.  The new regulations will be based on the FCC's current open Internet principles, but add principles which would prevent favored treatment of sites and/or applications with special benefits to the ISP.

Final adoption once the new regulations have been formulated, however, is far from assured.  Major cable and telecommuncations providers are opposed to the new regulations.  They contend that the so-called Net Neutrality rules will prevent them from effectively managing their networks in the face of ever expanding demand for Internet bandwidth.  The further argue that the proposed rules would stifle innovation by preventing them from entering into business relationships with content providers.

Opponents of the rule are not without political support in Congress.  Shortly before the FCC vote, Sen. John McCain introduced legislation which would block the FCC from regulating the Internet.

For more details on the issue, read the report on CNN's web site here.