(Editor's note: The following piece is part three of a three-part piece that looks at the important role net neutrality - the preservation of a free and open Internet - plays in our society and its smaller communities.)

Beyond the question of who could afford to be on a virtual toll road is the prospect of plain old censorship.

In 2008, the Federal Communications Commission determined that Comcast had secretly blocked its customers from using a free file-sharing application called BitTorrent. However, the FCC’s authority to enforce its finding was nullified by the U.S Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., earlier this year. That decision, say advocates, has given license to service providers to slow down or block sites they disapprove of for political, business, cultural or other reasons.

Against strong community opposition, the Oakland Planning Commission on Wednesday night approved a permit for Verizon Wireless to build a Telcom Facility with nine cellular antennas across the street from an elementary school, a public park, single family homes and lofts.