There's a movement in Congress to make telephone and cable companies treat all the traffic on their high-speed networks the same. That is, charge all content providers the same price. This goes by the name "net neutrality." It sounds vaguely appealing in a country that values equality for all.

Don't be fooled. Nobody's talking about knocking Google, Amazon, MoveOn.org or any other content off the Internet. This is about who's going to foot the bill to make sure the high-speed networks thrive and grow. Net neutrality is aimed at companies such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. It would bar them from charging premium prices for faster delivery of TV, movies or phone service over the high-speed broadband networks they are building across the country.

The backers of net neutrality are an odd mix of commercial giants such as Amazon, Google and eBay and advocacy groups such as the Christian Coalition and MoveOn.org. The commercial firms want to make sure their customers get fast access to their information and services, but they don't want to have to pay the phone or cable companies higher fees to make sure of that. The advocacy groups worry that they will be priced out of the fast lane, making it harder for users to access what they have to offer.

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