What Is "Net Neutrality"?

Net Neutrality, or Network Neutrality, is the concept that every Internet users should have equal right to access any services on the Net. There should be no exception according to racial, religious, aging, and gender reasons. In other words, no one should control or limit the networks on the Internet. According to Google,

"Network neutrality is the principle that Internet users should be in control of what content they view and what applications they use on the Internet."

Therefore, Internet users, not providers or companies, should direct the Internet by themselves consciously.
Net Neutrality is the fundamental idea of the Internet. However, actually there IS a difference. For instance, some sites like Yahoo or a streaming video cite provide extremely high quality movies; in this case, people with high speed Internet connection can watch them easily but people with slow speed Internet connection may take two hours to watch thirty-minute films. There IS a difference. Consequently, net neutrality has become commonly accepted, yet the real situation on the Internet is something different from the hoped outcome.
Net Neutrality has been the topic of hot debates especially in the US in the recent years because of the REAL situation that most companies try to get better service by suggesting customers to pay more money, which is quite different from net neutrality. In this year, 2007, Windows Vista came out, so the debates about network neutrality are probably going to be hotter. I'd like to look the debates in the long terms and see if what the Internet is going to be like.