FCC Commish Alleges That Netflix Is Working To “Effectively Secure” An Internet Fast Lane For Its...

[Eugene]

Source: TechCrunch

FCC Commish Alleges That Netflix Is Working To “Effectively Secure” An Internet Fast Lane For Its Content

Posted 4 hours ago by Alex Wilhelm

FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai sent a letter to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings today, alleging that the online video provider was working to “effectively secure” Internet “fast lanes” for its content.

Netflix has been a strident voice in favor of net neutrality. As such, Pai’s comments are somewhat embarrassing. If Netflix is in fact building ways to advantage its content over that of others, it could be said that it was working to warp, or otherwise distort the fabric of the Internet in its favor. That would make it a monied incumbent hoping to use a cash advantage to bolster its market position, precisely what net neutrality seeks to avoid and prevent.

The company declined to comment.

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Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/02/fcc-commish-alleges-that-netflix-is-working-to-effectively-secure-an-internet-fast-lane-for-its-content/

[Bjorn Against]

1. Ajit Pai is a right-winger who opposes net neutrality

Netflix has been a supporter of Net Neutrality and I think he is trying to weaken their voice in the net neutrality debate. I know Netflix is a big corporation with their own financial interests in mind, but I still trust them on this issue a lot more than I trust Pai.

[PoliticAverse]

2. There's some truth to that. This issue is partly over who pays for excessive bandwidth.

Many people use the 'highway' analogy for net neutrality without also recognizing that
the gasoline tax is effectively a use tax that causes highway users to pay more the more
highway they use.

Netflix traffic is about 34% of prime time Internet traffic.

(See: http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/netflix-youtube-bandwidth-usage-1201179643/ )