Maybe they're right. After a series of FCC and court decisions, it's no longer illegal for a broadband provider to limit or block Internet content or services for any reason. Providers usually make noises about security or network management when they do this. Consumers don't care. They just know their DSL won't let them cut their phone bill with Vonage, or the cable modem won't let them see streaming video from Google.

Of course, they're individual consumers. We're big corporations. Nobody can clog up our use of the Internet that way -- right?

Sure they can. And there's only so much we can do to stop it.

Oh, we can write clauses into our telecom and networking contracts, specifying that providers can't block our use of VOIP or other Internet technologies.

But even if we have an open pipe to the Internet backbone, that doesn't mean we have clear access to our customers and suppliers. If their Internet providers block certain kinds of IP traffic, we're talking to a wall.