Another Microsoft power play?

Microsoft has historically fought off attempts by the government to interfere with how it does business or wants to write software, especially when rivals are calling for it. But now, it's privately -- and aggressively -- lobbying the FCC to impose new rules on the cable industry that could give it a competitive advantage, writes Declan McCullagh, CNet News.com's D.C. correspondent.

Microsoft has joined other high-tech titans in calling for rules to mandate Net neutrality, which would remove the risk that broadband ISPs might block access to some Web sites or nudge users toward sites they favor.

It's a pretty wonky issue but McCullagh notes that it gives Microsoft a threat to hold over cable companies as it negotiates to provide the software for their set-top boxes. That's speculative but one thing that's clear, he writes, is that Microsoft is unwilling to defend its position on Net neutrality in public:

"Microsoft once was the poster child for a laissez-faire approach to government regulation. Now that the company has abandoned that approach, which tends to be a wise one, it's vulnerable to charges of hypocrisy."

In any event, as Dow Jones Newswire noted last week, Microsoft's lobbying effort doesn't seem to be working.