WASHINGTON--Capitol Hill rocked out to musician Damian Kulash from indie outfit OK Go when he appeared before a House task force on net neutrality.

The Chicago-based band rocketed to international fame through a home music video of them performing a dance routine on treadmills to one of their songs. Kulash believes their success could not have happened in the pay-to-play music industry of ten years ago or in a world without an open Internet.

Kulash's band is one of 993 groups and 191 labels who have joined a nationwide coalition for net neutrality called Rock the Net.

For those following it closely, the debate has raged for some time. In 2006, a story in the Washington Post called net neutrality "the most important public policy [issue] you've probably never heard of." Opponents of net neutrality date the history of the debate at 1995. The term was officially coined in 2002 by Columbia law professor Timothy Wu.

For a timeline of the debate, click on the interactive above.

The Parties:

Advocates and opponents differ on almost all aspects of the debate. Advocates claim that without regulations enforcing competition, a handful of broadband providers will serve as "content gatekeepers" and crush competitive applications and technologies by giving preference to their own content as well as to companies willing to pay fees for faster service.

"Those little bits of advantages would completely change the way we use the Internet," said Craig Aaron, acting senior program director for Free Press, a non-profit group which promotes net neutrality. "If you're investing in a company, it matters whether they're going to have access to all the customers."

Advocates argue that net neutrality offers an even playing field. "You create something, you have just as much of a chance as anybody else," Aaron said. "They might have more money, maybe they've got better programmers, but you have just as much chance to succeed."

Click video to hear more from Aaron

Major telecommunication companies are among the foes of net neutrality and supporters of tiered pricing. They argue that net neutrality amounts to regulation on a free Internet and that imposing rules on the ability to price services will hurt innovation. In sum, they claim to represent the principle of competition in a free market.

Mike McCurry was the former co-chairman of the group "Hands Off the Internet," which represented the interests of business groups and companies opposed to net neutrality.

"I support a free and open Internet," McCurry said. However, "net neutrality requires that networks treat text messages from mom the same as video streams of cool new stuff that requires a lot more bandwidth. Those who manage networks ought to be able to give preference to videos and other content that requires speedier and data-rich movement across the network."

Aaron agrees some content should be given preference over others but only if you treat similar content the same. "If you say phonecalls have to be slightly ahead in line of an e-mail, okay," Aaron said. "But that means everybody's phonecalls. What these companies want to do is say AT&T's phonecalls go first and then maybe Skype's go fourth."

McCurry said the main lesson “is that the Internet is not free.

“The people who make cool stuff come to your computer have to invest billions of dollars to run the wires, switches, cell towers and infrastructure that make the Internet work for all of us. [Companies] have to make money to return some value to those who make the investments."

Despite the long and heated debate, a possible compromise between opponents and advocates may be emerging. Broadband providers acknowledge that customers want an open Internet and net neutrality advocates acknowledge that network providers need to manage their networks for the good of customers.

The FCC's role:

While the Federal Communications Commission doesn't have hard rules against broadband providers blocking or slowing Internet content, it has made clear that "as a practical matter," such activities won't be allowed. In the most recent case, the FCC ruled in 2008 that cable modem provider Comcast was wrong in slowing some peer-to-peer and other traffic in the name of network management.

But Comcast has appealed that order, saying that the FCC doesn't have the authority to enforce net neutrality rules. There is the potential for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to rule against the FCC, either by saying the FCC must create a rule against net neutrality instead of enforcing broad principles, or by deciding the FCC has no authority to enforce net neutrality under existing law.

So, where do we stand in 2009?

Net neutrality is part of the Democratic Party platform and President Barack Obama has been a long-time supporter of the issue. According to Obama's website, he and Vice President Joe Biden "strongly support the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet." Indeed, included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the stimulus package) is $7 billion to expand "open access" broadband to rural and other under-served areas of the country. The FCC still has yet to define "open access," though.

With a Democratic majority in Congress as well, the ascendancy of advocates may result in aggressive legislation. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is chairman of the Senate Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation and Rep. Henry Waxman is a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Both are long-time advocates of net neutrality.