AT&T has set off yet another net neutrality firestorm, claiming that a crucial internet standards-making body gave its blessing to ISP priority access deals way back at the beginning of it all. In the late 1990s, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) added the “DiffServ” field to Internet Protocol (IP), AT&T insists, “to facilitate paid prioritization as a means for encouraging the further growth and development of the internet.”

Paid priority access “was fully contemplated” and even “expressly contemplated” by the IETF