Verizon sends cease and desist to Netflix. Netflix: LOL

Netflix said Monday it will not stop telling consumers that Internet service providers are to blame for poor streaming video.

Last week, Verizon sent a cease and desist letter to Netflix threatening a lawsuit unless Netflix immediately stops sending notices to customers (like the one at the top of this story) blaming Verizon for poor quality. Verizon also demanded a list of all customers who received such messages and evidence that each message was justified.



Netflix General Counsel David Hyman sent the company's response today which can be seen as a PDF here. Netflix says that the messages are part of a "test" that's ending next week, but that doesn't mean Netflix's public relations campaign is over.

Ars Technica contacted Verizon for comment and when asked if Verizon plans to file the lawsuit that it threatened in its cease and desist letter, the Verizon spokesperson said, "I'm not going to respond."

It’s pretty obvious Netflix is being smart by calling this a test while they silently do battle with Verizon. Odds are Netflix is posturing to force Verizon to use their Open Connect peering and caching program, which lets ISPs connect directly to Netflix or bring Netflix storage boxes into their own networks in order to improve quality.