In DC, there are bills moving through Congress that will affect the ISP business.

The Protect IP Act and the companion Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and H.R. 1981, the ISP Data-Retention Bill.

The ISP Data-Retention bill would require Internet Service Providers such as Comcast or AT&T to retain the personal information of its users for up to 18 months. PC Mag has a nice write up here. It passed House committee in July.

All of these bills come with the propaganda that it is to stop child porn and for national security. Actually, it is to help out the MPAA and RIAA, who want help to stop piracy. Some think that it is a violation of the 4th Amendment, but the US Congress has been chipping away at the Constitution since 9/11 for their money men.

Even Lifehacker is tracking what is going on with SOPA. You might have seen the American Censorship Day emails and facebook status updates. People need to understand that the Internet is a loosely connected network of computers and devices that no one group controls and is based on Trust. Even Peering is based on private agreements. The Internet is a huge communications network that has been running smoothly without government interference. Any disruption, as OpenDNS discusses here, will lead to unintended consequences that will not be good for our service economy. How can we spend $4B on building more broadband networks to build the economy AND mess with the foundation of that very network???

Even Fred Wilson, famous VC, rails against it.

As an ISP, I would suggest that you take a look at these 3 bills - that are moving through Congress!!! - and talk to your Congress Critters!