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Of course the big Internet companies don’t like it, because it would limit their ability to control who uses their broadband pipes and potentially, how much they can charge.

Now one of their biggest backers, Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, is coming to their aid.

The ranking member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee has introduced an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that would prohibit the FCC from expending funds to develop and implement new regulatory mandates – namely its forthcoming net neutrality rules that chairman Julius Genachowski announced Monday.

Hutchinson

“I am deeply concerned by the direction the FCC appears to be heading,” she said in a statement. “Even during a severe downturn, America has experienced robust investment and innovation in network performance and online content and applications. For that innovation to continue, we must tread lightly when it comes to new regulations.”

Hutchison’s amendment is co-sponsored by some Republican heavy hitters, including Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.), Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), David Vitter (R-La.), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and John Thune (R-S.D.).

Good Morning Silicon Valley has a great roundup of other opponents to the FCC’s plans to start enforcing net neutrality.

Bottom line is this: The fight’s already brewing over the FCC’s net neutrality plans. We’ll soon see how much clout the deep-pocketed Internet and communications companies – and their influential backers like Hutchison – have now that Democrats and the Obama Aministration rules Washington.

WASHINGTON – It has been talked about and debated for years. Now the Federal Communications Commission is making it official: Net Neutrality is a must for Internet carriers.

Genachowski

New FCC Chairman Julius  Genachowski, in his first major policy speech, declared that the FCC plans to take steps to prevent Internet providers such as AT&T, Comcast, Verizon and others from discriminating against particular Internet content or  applications. It also will take steps to ensure that Internet access providers are transparent about the network management practices they implement – meaning Internet providers will have to let users know their specific rules and how they plan to enforce those rules when it comes to using their broadband pipes.

“This is not about government regulation of the Internet,” Genachowski said in prepared remarks. “It’s about fair rules of the road for companies that control access to the Internet. We will do as much as we need to do, and no more, to ensure that the Internet remains an unfettered platform for competition, creativity, and  entrepreneurial activity.

“This is about  preserving and maintaining something profoundly successful and ensuring that it’s not distorted  or undermined,” he said. “If we wait too long to preserve a free and open Internet, it will be too late.”

See Genachowski’s full speech here.

Genachowski said the FCC will begin formulating its new net neutrality rules beginning next month, after seeking public comment. To facilitate what’s sure to be heated public debate, the FCC has opened an Web site at www.openinternet.gov.

Don’t expect the big Internet providers to be neutral on the issue of net neutrality. They want as much control as they can over who uses their broadband pipes, how much bandwidth they suck up and what they use it for. They’ve been lobbying the lawmakers and the FCC heavily in recent years – and that will only increase in the weeks to come.

How it all shakes out may change how Web-based companies – everybody from Google Inc. to the smallest of e-tailers – uses the Internet, how much they pay for it, and what they do with it.