At ACT, we’ve taken great interest in the media coverage of a possible pending broadband deal between Verizon and Google.  While we know nothing more than what’s been reported in the news, this appears to be an interesting development in the net neutrality debate.

Advocates of net neutrality have differing opinions about what is needed to preserve existing freedoms on the internet.  ACT strongly supports the four core principles of net neutrality: that no broadband provider should limit access to any content, device, application or network.

Yet we also understand the pragmatic realities of managing a network and the need of certain applications for better quality of service and packet prioritization.  Therefore we are cautiously hopeful that the reported discussions appear to be a move to a more rational position in the net neutrality debate.

At the same time, it’s difficult to know what to make of the deluge of commentary on this issue insisting that “Google is evil”.  Perhaps this sudden, vitriolic response to today’s news merely demonstrates the difficulty in reconciling the advertising giant’s carefully constructed public image with its obvious need to maximize shareholder value.