The U.S. Net Neutrality debate is again in the headlines with two Senators introducing legislation called the "Internet Freedom and Non-discrimination Act of 2008" and upbraiding ISPs for exerting too much control over their broadband services: practices the lawmakers call "anti-competitive and discriminatory" and antipathetic to freedom of speech.

But don't expect too much (if you're a Pro-neutrality) and don't get too fearful if (you're an Anti) because this is, after all, the springtime of an election year when promises are as fleeting as dandelion tops.

The new law, if passed, would require ISP interconnections with "other network providers" on a "reasonable and nondiscriminatory basis". The bill would also make it illegal for ISPs to interfere with traffic depending on content, applications and services to which consumers, the bill says, must always have open access.

"Americans have come to expect the Internet to be open to everyone," said one of the senators, John Conyers, Jr. "The Internet was designed without centralized control, without gatekeepers for content and services. If we allow companies with monopoly or duopoly power to control how the Internet operates, network providers could have the power to choose what content is available. Many of the innovations and products we use every day, such as search engines, music download services and online video, likely would never have developed in such a restricted environment."

The other bill mover, Zoe Lofgren, added that "recent events have shown that net neutrality is more than a hypothetical concern. We need a meaningful remedy to prevent those who control the infrastructure of the Internet from controlling the content on the Internet."

Gee, I wonder who they could be talking about? Comcast, the biggest cable TV provider in the US and the second largest ISP after ATT is also the most infamous virtual Svengali. Comcast lawyers have spent so much time before civil court judges and FCC commissioners fighting customer lawsuits and sanctions that they are all apparently on a first name basis.

Last month, however it appears that Comcast had softened its hard-line policy on net-throttling when it struck a deal with peer-to-peer online movie pioneer Bit Torrent, which, in a fit of amiability announced in March 2008 that the two former foes would collaborate with "the broader Internet and ISP community" to "more effectively address issues associated with rich media content and network capacity management."

Verizon has also been public touting its conversion to the idea of openness in both its broadband and wireless networks, but the walls, as far as anyone can see, still surround the garden.

Verizon spokesman David Fish in a statement to Reuters said "such a bill would be 'tough sell' in Congress.