How Netflix helped change the FCC's definition of net neutrality

Back in March of 2014, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings wrote a blog post accusing the major Internet service providers of imposing unfair tolls on companies, like his, that were sending large volumes of traffic to their customers. Hastings called on the Federal Communications Commission to expand the definition of network neutrality to cover this little-known world of "interconnection" between networks. On Feb 4, the FCC did just that.

Senior FCC officials said that they would handle interconnection complaints on a case-by-case basis, and the new proposal allows "reasonable network management," a term which the ISPs have already been using to justify congestion at interconnection points. This is actually a fairly radical departure from the way the FCC has operated in the past. So what changed? Companies like Netflix -- along with the companies that carry their traffic, like Cogent and Level 3 -- have been making their case with blog posts on the web and closed door meetings in Washington, DC. Netflix's complaint became the central data point in a long segment by John Oliver that went viral. Peering and interconnection make the average person glaze over, but "Cable industry f--kery" is something the masses can rally against. Commenters responded in such numbers that the FCC website crashed.