From the Google Public Policy blog:
It is imperative that we find ways to protect the future openness of the Internet and encourage the rapid deployment of broadband. Verizon and Google are pleased to discuss the principled compromise our companies have developed over the last year concerning the thorny issue of “network neutrality.”
The two companies aren’t quite ready to embrace full-blown net neutrality on the wireless side of things quite yet, however. Darren Murph at Engadget:
Where things really get interesting is when they touch on the wireless angle; essentially, they’re admitting that the very proposals they are putting forth for wireline shouldn’t apply to wireless just yet (aside from the whole “transparency” thing). It seems that the prevailing logic is that there’s simply not enough spectrum for this idyllic “play fair” scenario to truly work, so fewer restrictions would be necessary for the wireless internet space to blossom as the wireless side already has. Moreover, we get the impression that these guys feel the wireless space as a whole is simply too competitive right now to withstand any red tape.
This doesn’t go far enough. 3G and other wireless cell networks should be no different than broadband.
Update: Nilay Patel makes sense of it all, once again.