ReadWriteWeb

Never mind life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, if the U.S. were to follow in Finland's footsteps, then "broadband" would be added to that list of inalienable human rights. Today, Finland became the world leader in Internet access by making broadband every Finnish citizen's legal right and ensuring that every citizen will have access to a 1Mbps broadband connection.

The decision stands in stark opposition to the state of the Internet in the U.S., where, far from ensuring Internet access to every citizen, the battle over Net neutrality rages on.

Companies opposed to Network Neutrality spent more than 4 times as much money on lobbying last quarter than organizations in support of it, according to a report on new hearings on the subject by watchdog organization Sunlight Foundation. Net Neutrality opponents spent $19.7 million in lobbying in the first quarter of 2010 -supporters only $4.7 million.

Net Neutrality is a concept that means internet providers would be prohibited from limiting access to bandwidth based on the content being communicated. Beyond simple democracy, that Neutrality is argued to be important in order that unforeseeable and disruptive innovations can be built using less restricted bandwidth. The next YouTube in someone's garage, it is said.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the federal government will step in and begin regulating broadband lines under rules adopted decades ago designed for traditional phone networks.

The move will go a long way in enforcing a "net neutrality", which is meant to insure that all content is delivered equally, regardless of its source or type.

Two important legal decisions were made this week that could have significant impact on technology startups.

On Tuesday, a U.S. Federal Appeals Court determined that the FCC had overstepped its regulatory authority in demanding that Comcast cease its "throttling" of peer-to-peer service users. And on Wednesday, the U.K. House of Commons approved the "Digital Economy Bill", which grants sweeping regulatory power to the British government, including the ability to block websites and punish consumers and companies who are found to violate copyright law.

In a battle that's been ongoing since the fall of 2007, Comcast just won the latest round against the Federal Communications Commission. A federal appeals court announced its decision this morning to grant ComCast a petition for review, vacating the order by the FCC, which imposed a "net neutrality" on the nation's largest cable company.

The decision appears to focus on the FCC's legal authority to enforce net neutrality and not on the legality of net neutrality itself.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in his address to the World Mobile Congress on Tuesday that Google's future is not to compete with mobile operators. Instead, he pointed primarily to search advertising as Google's focus. But notably, Schmidt also mentioned Google's interest in enterprise software to deflect operator's concerns that the search giant wants to compete with them.

Schmidt's address to the world's leading mobile executives came as Google treads a delicate path. Google entered the mobile market in January. Instead of working through carriers, Google decided to sell its Nexus One directly to consumers. Last week, Google announced it would be offering Internet connectivity to select communities. That's another sore point for operators who wonder if Google is planning to enter the networking business.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently announced the so-called Google tax, which would tax online advertising revenues and then use the money to help "legal music platforms." The tax was, among a few other ideas, suggested by a committee lead by Patrick Zelnik. (Funny enough, Zelnik is also the producer of France's First Lady and pop singer, Carla Bruni Sarkozy.) That committee's mission is to suggest ideas to boost digital music sales in France when at the same time, the controversial HADOPI law, which targets illegal file sharers, is about to take effect.

FCC Chaiman Julius Genachowski outlined a number of new principles today that will guide the commission's rulemaking with regards to net neutrality. As Genachowski points out, openness was a key factor that made the Internet the success it has become. While the FCC never adopted any formal rules with regards to net neutrality, the commission adopted a set of four policy principles in 2005. Today, Genachowski announced that the FCC will begin the rulemaking process to formalize these principles and also announced two additional principles that should guide this process: non-discrimination and transparency.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal today, Google has approached major broadband providers in an attempt to get a "fast lane" for its content over the Internet.

If true, the Father of the Internet, Vint Cerf may be reconsidering his views on net neutrality given his statement of three years ago that "a lightweight but enforceable neutrality rule is needed to ensure that the Internet continues to thrive."