Today, the Federal Communications Commission [1] announced an inquiry into Net Neutrality [2] — the fundamental Internet principle that prevents phone and cable companies from discriminating against Web sites and services based on their source, ownership or destination.

While this maneuver isn't the start of an official rulemaking, it could be the spark of a real public conversation over what the future of the Internet should look like. Small businesses, bloggers, hundreds of groups from across the political spectrum, the founders of the Internet and the World Wide Web, and millions of concerned citizens want Net Neutrality reinstated so that the Internet remains a vibrant, open environment for free speech, democratic participation and economic innovation. Millions more will join them as they learn about what's at stake: the free and open Internet as we know it.

But as the Wall Street Journal reports [3], the Republicans on the FCC seemed to doubt whether this threat is real. But they need look no further than the statements [4] made by the heads of the nation's biggest telephone and cable companies. They've announced their plans to discriminate, to put toll booths on the information superhighway. We take them at their word.

Fortunately, their vision for the future of the Internet is not one shared by most Americans. It's to these everyday Internet users, business entrepreneurs and technological innovators whom the FCC should be listening.