Legislators in conference committee have reportedly reached agreement on a final $790 billion stimulus package, and while some details of the final broadband subsidy package are still being hammered out, word from the Hill is that a "network management" amendment proposed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) will not be included in the final bill.

Content industries had reportedly pressed for the inclusion of language offered by Feinstein that would "allow for reasonable network management practices such as deterring unlawful activity, including child pornography and copyright infringement"—language that net neutrality advocates feared would open the door to automatic filtering of copyrighted content by ISPs.

Art Brodsky of the advocacy group Public Knowledge, which opposed the amendment, tells Ars that it was a "heavy lift to begin with because she filed the amendment, but it didn't come up for discussion during the floor debate. Then she tried to get it in as part of a managers package on the senate floor along with a bunch of other stuff, but that wasn't included for procedural reasons."

He warns, though, that the "network management" language seems to have been left out largely because of the rush to reach agreement, and may return as a separate proposal at some later point.

Other details of the final bill remain unclear. The House version of the stimulus bill provided $6 billion for broadband deployment, split between the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the Department of Agriculture, while the Senate version allocated $7 billion (cut from an earlier $9 billion) to be administered by NTIA. A source on the Hill tells Ars that some details are still being finalized, but the amount coming out of conference appears to be closer to $6 billion, the majority of which will go to NTIA, with a smaller amount allocated to Agriculture.