Pelosi

With the new Congressional session came its first net-neutrality legislation that looks to prevent high-speed internet access providers, like Verizon and Comcast, from charging for priority access to content providers like Google and Yahoo, reports the New York Times.

Consumer groups have allied with the content providers, saying that charging them more would limit new services, prevent small companies from competing and result in costs' being passed on to consumers.

But the telephone and cable companies say that efforts to limit their ability to charge for faster service would discourage the pipeline companies from investing billions of dollars to upgrade their networks, and would, as a practical matter, therefore be even more harmful to consumers.

Though the issue has polarized the House and Senate - with Republicans siding with the "gatekeepers" of the internet - Fifty-eight Democrats voted against a similar measure in June 2006. Newly sworned-in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who hails from San Francisco, near Silicon Valley, is said to be siding with content providers