Colleague Sam Harrelson continues to dazzle with me his ability at analysis. I note that my friend “Mystery Dave” should read his probing piece of analysis on Net Neutrality.

His recent piece at Revenews is, once again, smashing and sad as he looks at the death throes of Net Neutrality.

Yesterday, along mostly party lines, the US House of Representatives rejected the concept of Net Neutrality. Fully understanding both sides of the debate and realizing the implications of this decision requires historical context.

Brad Waller recently discussed the passage of H.R. 5417 in the House Judiciary Committee. That bill, backed by Sensenbrenner (R) and Conyers (D), is just one of six pieces of legislation moving through the House and the Senate pertaining to the issue. However, the House’s vote yesterday is a signpost as to how the final draft of the legislation will be written relating to net neutrality.

The late afternoon vote (6:30pm) yesterday was on an amendment favoring net neutrality language and was strongly backed by internet companies such as eBay, Google, and Amazon.com. Simplifying the argument to a “free-market” versus “authoritarian” debate seems easy enough.

However, the situation is much more complex and the ramifications of these decisions demands that we, in the online marketing business and outside the business, inform ourselves as much as possible on this issue to ensure that the best long-term results are met. Otherwise, the argument can be manipulated to fit one side or the other’s short-sighted agenda.

For those not in the know- The amendment failed to pass by a 269-152 vote in the House of Representatives.

I will throw my hat in the ring here, and much to my disgust Cox is already “blocking’ Craigslist. Chalk that up to a Net provider I will never use- let us hope that customers vote with their feet since the House can’t seem to get it right.

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