Save the Internet.

Editor,

Timothy B. Lee has framed the issue of "network neutrality" incorrectly. It is not the ISP's who pose a danger to American democracy, but Bell South, Qwest, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, and especially AT&T and Comcast-- the handful of giant telcos who control the Internet backbone, upon which all Internet traffic travels, in the United States.

According to a Cisco white paper entitled "Cisco Premium Services": (a) the telcos have publicly and unequivocally stated their intention to interfere with the delivery of certain providers' content, and (b) the technology to do this exists and is in the process of being deployed.

The telcos have no obligation to protect Americans' freedom of speech or access to information -- unless Congress mandates, with the full authority of the legal institutions of this country, that they do.