The government has set up a that is designed to let organizations, including states, apply for funding to support broadband deployment. And there is money to be had. The stimulus bill allocated $7.2 billion and directed the Departments of Agriculture and Commerce to hand it out. (Your tax dollars, or maybe your grandchild's tax dollars, at work.)

The Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) is run by the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service(RUS) and the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) is run by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA). The Web site includes Notices of Funds Availability (a term that only Washington could have come up with) for these According to the Web site the BIP will make loans and grants for broadband infrastructure projects in rural areas, and the BTOP will provide grants to fund broadband infrastructure, public computer centers and sustainable broadband adoption projects. There is also a separate document to be used by states that want to get some of the money.

These programs go to Internet connections that meet the FCC policy statement on and do not favor any lawful Internet applications and content over others (see, for example, lines 615 to 629 of the non-state program).

The program does not prohibit all types of invasive behavior on the part of the service provider but the provider is required to "describe any business practices or technical mechanisms they employ, other than standard best efforts Internet delivery, to allocate capacity; differentiate among applications, providers, or sources; limit usage; and manage illegal or harmful content." I guess it's OK for a provider to do bad things as long as they tell us that is what they are doing.

Of course, the provider must support wiretapping and can make use of "reasonable network management."