Fast internet lanes from your Internet provider to your home for companies willing to coin up may soon be a reality.
In other words, if Netflix wants to pay, say Verizon, for faster service into your living room desktop, it can under a new proposed rule by the Federal Communications Commission.
It's the FCC's latest attempt to pass a rule regarding Internet providers that passes legal muster after two other attempts at net neutrality - efforts to treat all Internet traffic the same - were thrown out in court.
Advocates of the new rule compare it to the nation's highway system. Increasingly, in congested areas, motorists pay a toll to ride in "fast lanes" to avoid traffic congestions and get where they're going faster. Those advocates say "fast lanes" on the Internet will help prioritize traffic on the web.
However, not everyone thinks that's fair, but they like the fact that the FCC is also considering the possibility of defining Internet service providers as "common carriers."
That would put Internet providers in the same category as telephone companies giving the FCC greater authority to regulate them.
Meanwhile, the public has 120 days to comment on the "fast lanes" proposal before the FCC writes a final set of rules.
Here's a story that attempts to sort out the battle.