Network neutrality: A barrier to a smut-free Internet?

In a letter sent April 15 to members of Congress, leaders of 30 groups, a new coalition of economic and social conservatives, called on lawmakers to oppose proposed Network Neutrality regulation, saying "the great success of the Internet has been made possible because the government has stayed out." They went on, however, to warn that the proposed rules "call into question how obscenity and other objectionable content on the Internet is treated."

In particular, the letter contends, Net neutrality "prohibits" ISPs from "preventing peddlers of child pornography from having unblocked access to every home Internet connection." Parents and families must "continue to have access to the tools necessary to keep unwanted content out of the home." Gee, where to start? As the FCC has made abundantly clear over the six years its leaders have been talking about Net neutrality, the concept doesn't apply to illegal content. Obscenity and child pornography are just that -- illegal. But that's not the only false or misleading aspect of the letter....