Interestingly, if Akamai had decided to terminate their peering agreement with Comcast and route their traffic through Level 3 instead, the situation from Comcast's end would be basically the same. Would that still be justification to cry foul? Would Level 3 be abusing their situation as a top-level transit provider by ... providing transit?
Do you think Akamai should pay to transfer data to Comcast? (They Do)
If yes, why shouldn't L3?
If not, then how should peering agreements work?