[irons]

Your assertion that Netflix "doesn't pay an ISP" is at odds with their description of having previously paid Cogent to carry traffic over long distances. Now, "Netflix is itself shouldering the costs and performing the transport function for which it used to pay transit providers."

In other words, you're describing a situation in which Comcast blackmailed Netflix for access to Comcast's customers as one in which Netflix claims they "should not have to pay for internet traffic". This is detached from reality.

[Touche]

How was Netflix "blackmailed"? Cogent failed to provide the service they needed so they are doing it themselves. Doing it themselves is saving them a lot of money.

Now they're attempting to shift costs onto everyone else. And they're using the public's distrust of ISPs to get the public to pay for Netflix's business expenses.