The ongoing net neutrality debate seems to get more emotional daily, and it’s generating lots of press. The Wall Street Journal has a piece on it today (here’s the link, but you’ll need a WSJ subscription to access it). It highlights the net-driven grassroots campaigns—complete with homemade videos posted at YouTube.com and other sites—that are fueling the flames on one side of the issue. Certainly, that side (the side of net neutrality proponents) is making most of the noise and, frankly, getting a lot of attention for its efforts. “While several economists and telecom wonks have blogged in favor of the side of the phone and cable companies, they’re in the minority online,” according to the WSJ. Still, the article also mentions a critical point we’ve been stressing for some time: Net Neutrality is a complicated issue. There’s little agreement and clarity on an exact definition, making it a problematic issue to regulate. The WSJ mentions the Cox Communications/Craigslist issue we told you about last week: “Because of all the rhetoric, Net neutrality has become such a hot-button issue that some companies have found themselves the target of advocates who are quick to jump on any kink in Internet service as a new battlefield in the debate. Recently, bloggers sent out fiery missives against Cox Communications Inc. because some subscribers had trouble accessing online classifieds Web site Craigslist. Turns out it was an incompatibility problem between Craigslist and Cox’s security software that is being remedied.”

Also this week, Multichannel News’ Newsday offered an interesting take on the debate: “Go to Google and enter the words ‘net neutrality.’ See what pops up in the paid links section on the right? Senate testimony of NCTA president Kyle McSlarrow calling for a free-market approach to Internet regulation? Not exactly. Last week, Google’s top Washington lobbyist disclosed that the company had configured its search engine to return paid links that support Google’s position on net neutrality after the entry of certain key words.... Imagine the uproar on Capitol Hill if Comcast and Time Warner rigged their broadband networks so that computer screens defaulted to NCTA’s Web site for a sample of cable’s take on net neutrality legislation.”