A Federal Communications Commission hearing Thursday in Silicon Valley focused on these questions: Should the Internet be a closed entity controlled by the likes of the cable companies and phone companies? Or should it be controlled by the people who use it?

Skype has voted for the latter.

And Christopher Libertelli, senior director of government and regulatory affairs Skype, made the case in an op-ed appearing today in the San Jose Mercury News.

Skype argues that the net needs to stay open to encourage innovation. It supports the "net neutrality" principle, the position protecting consumers' ability to go where they want on the Internet and to make their own online choices.

Libertelli said: "Cable companies that bring Internet connectivity to our homes should not be the gatekeepers making decisions about which Internet sites people see. Not only is this bad for consumers, it's bad for businesses..."

The FCC has been looked at BitTorrent, software that allows its users to trade large files such as music or videos via a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. Skype, which is also a P2P network, enables people to talk to one another over the Internet for free.

Comcast restricted its customer access to BitTorrent. The companies worked out an agreement.

But questions remained on whether government should act to prevent such interference, which could give providers "express lanes" for their own content.

Libertelli said Skype is no fan of government control, but feels the FCC should protect consumer interests.

Read more at the Merc website.