America Online and Yahoo announced a program today that sounds good for their subscribers - but that could be the beginning of the end for openness and fairness on the Internet.

According to news reports, AOL and Yahoo are going to give preferential treatment to commercial emailers who pay a small per-message fee, about ¼ of a penny per email. For that tiny price, their email messages will bypass filters and get to subscribers faster and more efficiently than other email. They're billing it as a benefit (CertifiedEmail!) for you and me.

But don't be fooled. This practice is one step towards the end of net neutrality. Net neutrality is the principle that your Internet provider shouldn't be able to restrict, limit or interfere with your ability to access any web content you choose or use any application you choose - including email.

Maybe you think it's not a big deal that Amazon.com can pay to have its sales emails delivered to your inbox faster than your sister's vacation photos. But it sets a dangerous precedent of allowing Internet providers to pick and choose which content you'll be able to access and how fast it will be delivered to you. Today it's your email. Tomorrow it's websites you visit. And after that it'll be services, like the ability to download real-time video and watch TV shows on the Internet.

Stay tuned. Congress holds hearings on net neutrality tomorrow.