By Claire Atkinson, NY Post

What’s neutrality without a war?

That’s the reaction from critics to a hastily arranged conference call by Google and Verizon chiefs yesterday.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Verizon chief Ivan Seidenberg got together to express support for the government’s “net neutrality” plan and proclaim their love of the “public Internet.”

But during the call with reporters, Seidenberg inadvertently stoked fears by suggesting the company wants to be allowed to create new services that some critics are dubbing, “the private Internet.”

Net neutrality is the principle where all Web traffic receives equal delivery speeds for all content, regardless of its origin. Seidenberg appeared to outline another kind of Internet service, which might deliver, for instance, premium entertainment content for a profit.