Barack Obama discusses net neutrality on MTV

Q: "[...] Would you make it a priority in your first year of office to reinstate Net Neutrality as the law of the land, and would you pledge to only appoint FCC commissioners that support open Internet principles, like Net Neutrality?"

A: "The answer is 'Yes', I am a strong supporter of Net Neutrality. And in case folks weren't following, exactly, the question, I just want to make sure everybody is clear. Right now, if you get on the Internet, the speed with which and the quality of your downloads or your links are the same whether you're going to the CNN, or Time Warner site, or whether you're going to BarackObama.com. But what you [have] been seeing is some lobbying that says that the servers, and the various portals through which you're getting information over the Internet should be able to be gatekeepers, and to charge different rates to different websites and webcasts. So now, what you have is potentially you could download and get much better quality from the Fox News site, and you'd be getting rotten service from some mom & pop site. And that, I think, destroys one of the best things about the Internet, which is that there's this incredible equality there. And people, if you've got a good idea, you get a great website, [FaceBook, Myspace, Google], might not have been started if you had not had a level playing field for whoever's got the best idea. And I want to maintain that basic principle in how the Internet functions. And so, as President, I'm going to make sure that is the principle that my FCC commissioners are applying as we move forward."