... the fundamental commitment of our democracy to secure "the widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources." ... Today, as the Internet and the digitally networked environment present us with a new set of regulatory choices, it is important to set our eyes on the right prize. That prize is not the Great Shopping Mall in Cyberspace. That prize is the Great Agora -- the unmediated conversation of the many with the many. ... Once legislatures conceive those whose welfare they serve as users, rather than as consumers, the relevant focus of regulation should shift to enabling the widest possible range of users to use the resource for active communication, not simply for passive reception. ... An open, free, flat, peer-to-peer network best serves the ability of anyone -- individual, small group, or large group -- to come together to build our information environment. It is through such open and equal participation that we will best secure both robust democratic discourse and individual expressive freedom. This two-year-old essay from Yochai Benkler is cited in the latest Cook Report on Internet. Well worth the read. From Consumers to Users: Shifting the Deeper Structures of Regulation Toward Sustainable Commons and User Access, by Yochai Benkler [PDF] | 
