One of the standard arguments for government regulation in the Internet space is that “net neutrality” rules are not new. Two advocates of the policy resurrected that argument this week at a net neutrality event ColorOfChange.org hosted for congressional staffers.

Asked whether the rules would hinder Internet development, ColorOfChange executive director James Rucker emphasized that net neutrality is not new. Parul Desai, vice president of the Media Access Project, added that net neutrality rules were in place before 2002.

Apparently Lawrence Strickling, head of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, didn’t get the memo because two days after the ColorOfChange event, he stated the opposite. In defending the current push for Internet regulation, Strickling acknowledged to a Media Institute audience that the government rightly took a hands-off approach to the Internet in its early days but needs to intervene now. In other words, new rules are needed.

“I answer the question whether the government should be involved with an emphatic ‘yes,’” Strickling said, as reported by Multichannel News. He argued that the Internet lacks a “natural self-regulatory equilibrium” and thus demands new rules and laws “to protect our interests.”

The neutrality crusaders need to get their talking points straight.