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Netflix Inc. has long framed itself as the good guy in the fight against Internet service providers — Chief Executive Reed Hastings has described his company as “big believers in the free and open Internet.”

But the Los Gatos, Calif., company’s stance on equal access apparently has its limits, namely among its own customers.

For more than five years, Netflix has secretly slowed load times and reduced video resolution — a process called throttling — to AT&T Inc. and Verizon mobile customers to keep them from exceeding the caps on their data plans, the Wall Street Journalreported late Thursday.

Although that policy seemingly contradicts Netflix’s public stance in its past battles with Internet service providers, its position in both cases makes financial sense.

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