I spent all of Thursday listening to the Federal Communications Commission's second hearing on net neutrality, held at Stanford University. It was an interesting day, because unlike the agency's first hearing on the problem, sponsored by Harvard Law School in February, it was clear that most the Commissioners have now made up their mind about the matter. They spent much of the Stanford event explaining what kind of regulatory measures they will or will not support to create a level playing field on the 'Net. \ Here's the lineup of positions by various commissioners. Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, both Democrats, are clearly ready to add a "fifth principle" to the agency's 2005 Internet Policy Statement, something with enforcement teeth in it. Republican Robert McDowell all but wants the FCC to walk away from the problem and leave it to the private sector to sort out. Ditto for co-Republican Deborah Taylor Tate, except she wants the agency to take on illegal file sharing and child pornography. \ That leaves FCC Chair Kevin Martin. He's clearly leaning towards some knd of tougher policy that requires ISPs to: a) be more up front about their network management practices, and b) places them under "stricter scrutiny" so that while they manage their networks, they don't arbitrarily discriminate against certain kinds of protocols and applications. \ So by my count, we've got three Commissioners who favor some kind of pro-net neutrality Order, and two probable dissenters. One of them, Tate, might be tempted to sign on if the ruling includes some language against illegal content. That racks up in my book to an impending victory for the net neutrality movement. But we'll see. \ Following the Stanford event I got a little curious about the various definitions of net neutrality that scholars, activists, and institutions offer. Here are a bunch: \ From the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue: \ "Net neutrality is a state in which users have the freedom to access the content, services, applications, and devices of their choice." \ From About.com: \ "Net neutrality refers to the way information is transmitted on the internet. With a neutral internet set up, internet service providers and search engines merely send you the information or the website for which are looking. ISPs are hoping to replace this neutral system with a fee based system in which websites would be pay a fee to the ISP for the service, and the sites that pay the highest fees would be prioritized . . . " \ From Common Cause: \ "Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be able to access any web content they choose and use any applications they choose, without restrictions or limitations imposed by their Internet service provider." \ From the Congressional Research Service: \ "There is no single accepted definition of 'net neutrality.' However, most agree that any such definition should include the general principles that owners of the networks that compose and provide access to the Internet should not control how consumers lawfully use that network; and should not be able to discriminate against content provider access to that network." \ From Larry Downes: \ "The general idea of net neutrality is to ensure that broadband access providers (defined in the IFPA as 2-way transmission in which transmission in at least one direction is at least 200 kilobits per second) make their infrastructure available in a content-neutral pricing scheme - no charging (or offering as a premium service) more to deliver on a higher priority content from any particular subset of providers." \ From the Federal Communications Commission: \ "The Commission has jurisdiction necessary to ensure that providers of telecommunications for Internet access or Internet Protocol-enabled (IP-enabled) services are operated in a neutral manner. Moreover, to ensure that broadband networks are widely deployed, open, affordable, and accessible to all consumers, the Commission adopts the following principles: \ \ To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice. \ To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to run applications and use services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement. \ To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network.13 \ To encourage broadband deployment and preserve and promote the open and interconnected nature of the public Internet, consumers are entitled to competition among network providers, application and service providers, and content providers." \ \ From Google: \ "Fundamentally, net neutrality is about equal access to the Internet. In our view, the broadband carriers should not be permitted to use their market power to discriminate against competing applications or content. Just as telephone companies are not permitted to tell consumers who they can call or what they can say, broadband carriers should not be allowed to use their market power to control activity online." \ From Ray Lin, University of California: \ "Simply put, net neutrality is a network design paradigm that argues for broadband network providers to be completely detached from what information is sent over their networks. In essence, it argues that no bit of information should be prioritized over another. This principle implies that an information network such as the internet is most efficient and useful to the public when it is less focused on a particular audience and instead attentive to multiple users." \ From PC Magazine Encyclopedia: \ "Refers to the absence of restrictions placed on the type of content carried over the Internet by the carriers and ISPs that run the major backbones. It states that all traffic be treated equally; that packets are delivered on a first-come, first-served basis regardless from where they originated or to where they are destined." \ From David Vaina: \ "Net neutrality is the idea that those who provide internet service treat the content producers equally. It is the framework, as it exists now, that allows users to access Google, blogs, and everything in between at the same speed, thus leveling the playing field between the largest media companies and ordinary citizens who produce an estimated 60% of the content on the Web." \ From Webopedia: \ "Network neutrality or net neutrality, as it is abbreviated, is the term used to describe networks that are open to equal access to all . They are non-discriminatory as they do not favor any one destination or application over another." \ From Whatis.com: \ "Net neutrality is the principle that data packets on the Internet should be moved impartially, without regard to content, destination or source. Net neutrality is sometimes referred to as the 'First Amendment of the Internet'." \ From Wikipedia: \ "Network neutrality (equivalently "net neutrality", "internet neutrality" or "NN") is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Put simply, Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers...