Last week BellSouth users complained they couldn't access MySpace and YouTube, leading some to issue cries of network-neutrality violation. As it turns out, the problem was a routing issue between BellSouth and LLNW (LimeLight Networks) impacting customers in Florida and Tennessee, and was completely unintentional.

Though we've seen no complaints about this in our forums, some bloggers report that Cox users are complaining they can't reach Craigslist (see Silicon Valley Watcher, IP Democracy). From the former:

"[Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster] soon arrived and said the problem of access had been going on since late February. It had something to do with the security software that Cox isusing from a company called Authentium - Back on February 23rd Authentium acknowledged that their software is blocking Craigslist but it still hasn't fixed the problem, more than three months later."

Because Cox runs its own classified ads service, the assumption seems to be that Cox is intentionally disrupting user connection to Craigslist. Though certainly possible, a more likely explanation, as in the BellSouth case, is human error.

It would take a rare form of incompetence for incumbent execs to decide to block users from accessing content at the very apex of the net-neutrality debate in Congress. Similarly, crying wolf each time a network belches could hurt the case for net-neutrality by painting advocates as knee-jerk reactionaries.

Our users may not be complaining about the blockade because when it was unveiled last spring, many decided the security/privacy suite was not worth installing. Cox users unable to access Craigslist can apparently just uninstall the bundled Cox security software to resolve the issue.