This week, ISS Proxy Advisory Services — a leading adviser to institutional investors — recommended that its clients vote for a shareholder proposal urging Verizon to issue a report on the risks of opposing Net Neutrality.

This is great news. Last year, after nearly 6 percent of AT&T shareholders voted for a similar proposal, we wrote that “there’s a new and important voice in the ongoing fight for Net Neutrality: the voice of the shareholder.” (Soon after that, a similar proposal at Verizon attracted nearly 8 percent of the shareholder vote.)

Now the next round of shareholder meetings is about to take place. If the ISS announcement is any indicator, Net Neutrality is poised to make an even bigger splash.

ISS’ advice has weight. Shareholders tend to follow its lead, which means that another Net Neutrality proposal could garner much more support than we saw the last time around.

This is important and ironic considering Verizon’s pending lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission over its Open Internet rules. But the smartest investors in the country understand that the open Internet is good for business (indeed, many have argued this point for years). They are fed up with AT&T's and Verizon’s anti-consumer policies — and are trying to influence these companies from the inside out.

We’ll have to wait for the actual shareholder vote on May 2 to see what kind of impact ISS’ recommendations have — but it’s a good bet we’ll see even more investors supporting Net Neutrality.