As everybody knows by now, Andrew McLaughlin from Google said recently,

Cutting the FCC out the picture would probably be a smart move. It is much better to think of this as an FTC or unfair competition type of problem.

As others have said, this is an important and encouraging shift, and we’ll be watching Google as the conversation moves forward. But this brings strident net neutrality advocate David Isenberg to dust off a ditty he penned last year:

Google and Yahoo and Microsoft and Skype,
They’re already successful, they can make deals for those pipes.
But when I want to publish stuff in my blog
It will not be OK for you to once again pay.
We already pay for our Internet connection.
We don’t need to subsidize a dying industry’s obsession!
If looking at my blog cost you an extra dime
You’d probably find another way to spend your time.

Well, sure, if that was the issue. Isenberg looks a little silly compared to his usual ally, Kevin Werbach, who writes:

What Google’s global policy counsel (and in full disclosure, my friend and law school classmate) Andrew McLaughlin said to kick of the firestorm was that differentiated quality of service (QOS) is OK, as long as it’s available to anyone who will pay. This is no different than the current situation, where all major websites pay a content delivery network (CDN) such as Akamai, or pay to self-provision a CDN, in order to deliver popular content quickly and efficiently to their users. Those who don’t pay for CDNs are disadvantaged, just like those who don’t buy enough bandwidth for their network connections, but that’s their economic choice. … So, put aside all the conspiracy theories. If supporters of network neutrality don’t have room in their big tent for the view Andrew expressed, they are really in trouble.

Not a bad point. The argument over net neutrality has developed a lot over the past year, and anybody still afraid that an Internet provider is going to cut you off from your favorite blog is unable to keep up with the times.

One thing this means is that Dorgan-Snowe, the Senate bill kicked around since last year, is itself out-of-step with the current landscape. Will net neutrality supporters ask that it be withdrawn? Maybe not – but it would be in their best interest to do so.