10 Ways Netflix and Cohorts Punked Us All Into Believing they Really Support a “Free and Open” Internet

Remember the Net Neutrality debate? The one where John Oliver told us all to drop what we were doing and petition the FCC to put the government in charge of regulating the Internet to really keep it “free an open”?

Netflix was among the many who said if the FCC didn’t act then consumers would all be subject to content regulation at the hand of their Internet Service Providers and suffer things like….throttling.

Wait. What? Yes, throttling. The same throttling that Netflix itself was just busted for doing to its customers on AT&T and Verizon networks.

Of course Netflix completely denies that this is any violation of Net Neutrality and the many activists that supported the government power grab of the Internet rushed to Netflix’s aid.

We’re still waiting for them all to yell April Fool’s. But it appears that their hypocrisy is no joke.

1.Netflix — Netflix was quick to try to dissuade any of its customers from thinking that they were really being throttled. And that it was in any way a fast lane violation…“Only the person controlling the network — the ISP — can slow down traffic to make someone else’s go faster….” (“The Misconception About Internet Fast Lanes,” Netflix blog, 1/5/15)

2. Michael Calabrese — Calabrese is Director of Wireless Future Project at New America’s Open Technology Institute and also a Net Neutrality advocate. But when it comes to Netflix throttling, it’s really just about protecting the consumer wallet.

3. Free Press — Among the most vocal of Net Neutrality activist groups, Free Press “Without Net Neutrality, ISPs would be able to block content and speech they don’t like, reject apps that compete with their own offerings, and prioritize Web traffic (reserving the fastest loading speeds for the highest bidders and sticking everyone else with the slowest).” Apparently, the same doesn’t apply to Netflix picking winners and losers…

4. Then there’s Harold Feld, Senior VP for Public Knowledge who wants to make it clear that when Netflix limits streaming video at lower qualities to select customers, it does not fit the definition of “throttling.”

5. But it doesn’t matter to Feld any way as he openly reveals….

6. So what did the dozens of other consumer groups that said Net Neutrality would end the practice of throttling have to say about Netflix? Ironically, they all took the time last week to sign a letter bashing zero rating practices where consumers can get certain unlimited content (like streaming video) that won’t count against their data plan. They said it was a violation of Net Neutrality? But when it came to weighing in on Neflixgate?

7. by the way, Neflix donated $50,000-$99,000 to New America Foundation

8. and $25,000+ to Public Knowledge

9. and they supported Free Press’s “Battle for the Net” campaign:

10. And speaking of zero-rating. According to T-Mobile’s VP for Engineering, when explaining how its zero-rating Binge-On service would enable customers to watch more video while using less data, Netflix told them they thought carriers “could make more money from customers who have to pay for the data.” Adding, “we thought we were doing you a favor” by sending large video streams.” I guess when Netflix and its cheerleaders say they act out of concern for consumers’ wallets it isn’t quite the way we thought.