For the past two years, Mike McCurry has been this coalition’s “Happy Warrior.” He has traveled across the country, campaigning tirelessly in favor of the government’s traditional regulatory restraint toward the Internet.

So sad to say, but Mike is leaving us this week and we’re truly sorry to see him go. Then again as you look at the Net neutrality debate, it seems clear that events have also moved beyond many of the traditional arguments. For example, the need for efficient “smart network” technology is increasingly evident and that’s one of the cornerstones of our opposition to Net neutrality.

As Mike has long said, the high-speed Internet is changing many consumer habits with remarkable speed. Two years ago, when Hands Off got involved in the Net neutrality debate, the idea of streaming a TV show over the Internet was a novelty. Eighteen months later, one out of four viewers of “The Office” were streaming it online.

So consumers continue to enjoy their online freedoms, even as the Internet evolves beyond two-year-old political arguments, which is what Mike always predicted.