In some ways, the Federal Communications Commission can claim some victory in the net neutrality war. Their threat to impose net neutrality rules on the broadband access industry via reclassification has moved the parties to an agreement.

It puts FCC chairman Julius Genachowski in a pickle, however. Does he back off of his reclassification efforts and accept this compromise? Or does he ask for more more concessions, including net neutrality on wire line and wireless networks and open network treatment for all traffic whether running over the public Internet or private networks?

The chairman, who may claim to run an independent agency, does not have the luxury of separating the potential impact of the mid-term elections from a decision on reclassification. A smart play, in my opinion, would be to respect the initiatives of the private sector to address net neutrality on its own.