U.S. politicians have rejected Net Neutrality in recent legislation, paving the way for two-tiered bandwidth offerings and raising questions about the free and open nature of the Internet.

The U.S. House of Representatives defeated the so-called Net Neutrality amendment yesterday, and then passed the underlying legislation--a wide-ranging bill focused on speeding up adoption of certain broadband technologies. Without the Net Neutrality amendment, large content producers like Google, eBay and Yahoo fear they will be required to pay for faster access to their customers or see their service levels deteriorate. Net Neutrality supporters argue the underlying bill is contrary to the founding nature of the Internet, where all companies and services are treated equal. Supporters argue that the bill will speed the adoption of technologies such as television over IP and VoIP.

The bill, known as the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement (COPE) Act, was passed in the House by 321-100 votes. The Net Neutrality amendment was defeated by 269-152 votes. The bill now moves to the U.S. Senate, which will vote on the act in June.