AT&T’s fascinating third-way proposal on network neutrality

Imagine an Internet with fast lanes that you -- not your cable company -- controlled. That's what AT&T is proposing to the Federal Communications Commission in an attempt to bridge the gap between regulation-wary industry groups and net neutrality advocates who want strong government protections for the open Internet.

The path forward for AT&T's idea -- which has been discussed before -- is uncertain. Still, it's attracted some cautious approval from consumer groups, in a sign that some are still interested in a compromise amid what's become a major ideological fight in Washington over the future of the Internet. Here's what AT&T's proposal looks like: In a recent meeting with FCC officials, AT&T's senior vice president for regulatory policy laid out a plan that would allow individual consumers to ask that some applications, such as Netflix, receive priority treatment over other services, such as e-mail or online video games. That's different from the FCC's current proposal, which tacitly allows Internet providers to charge content companies for priority access to consumers but doesn't give the consumers a choice in the matter. AT&T's idea would still allow for commercial deals between companies. But they would have to be arranged as the result of one or more subscriber requests; the ISPs couldn't offer fee-based prioritization just because they wanted to. Some net neutrality advocates say they're heartened by the proposal.