Blech, the broadcast flag has made it through committee.

As things stand now, the Senate Commerce Committee has decided we need a broadcast flag, but is leaning heavily against net neutrality. That's just plain inconsistent. In the argument against legislating the tenets of network neutrality into law, its opponents make the case that federal regulation is unnecessary because it applies government regulation to technology instead of letting the markets sort the whole matter out. That is the line of reasoning followed by Sen. Stevens and other legislators who are leery of mandating net neutrality. At the same time, the senators are fully backing the broadcast flag, which would apply strict government regulations to technology. There's one common thread here: the interests of big business. With the broadcast flag, big business is for heavy regulation. In the case of net neutrality, it's not. At least we know where our lawmakers' true interests lie.