FCC feedback on net neutrality faked and the FCC blocks investigation, NY attorney general says

[cellio]

The New York Attorney General is investigating fraud aimed at FCC commenting. The FCC refused to cooperate. According to this post, tens of thousands of New Yorkers, and many more people elsewhere in the US, had their names falsely and illegally used in fake feedback on net neutrality.

Successfully investigating this sort of illegal conduct requires the participation of the agency whose system was attacked. So in June 2017, we contacted the FCC to request certain records related to its public comment system that were necessary to investigate which bad actor or actors were behind the misconduct. We made our request for logs and other records at least 9 times over 5 months: in June, July, August, September, October (three times), and November.

We reached out for assistance to multiple top FCC officials, including you [Chairman Pai], three successive acting FCC General Counsels, and the FCC’s Inspector General. We offered to keep the requested records confidential, as we had done when my office and the FCC shared information and documents as part of past investigative work.

Yet we have received no substantive response to our investigative requests. None.

Net neutrality is important. The integrity of the public record is even more important, as it is used to support policy changes (not just this one). And right now it looks like we've lost both.

You can use this site to look for fake comments using your name and, if you find them, file a complaint. With, um, somebody -- I didn't find any under my name, so I haven't gone down that path.

Comments

[osewalrus]

Pai and friends have indeed worked fairly hard on this, given what happened last time. This scam has been going on since Pai opened the docket in May.
http://www.wetmachine.com/tales-of-the-sausage-factory/will-pai-pull-a-putin-and-hack-the-fcc-process-or-will-he-get-over-himself-and-start-acting-like-the-chairman/

As I told reporters at the time, members of Congress know who is melting down their phones.

[cellio]

Thanks for the additional info. I seem to have missed your earlier blog post about this.

I've contacted my representatives in Congress (by phone and email) several times each about this -- not "melting", but maybe it helps. (They got copies of the same comments I sent to the FCC as part of that. I doubt anybody at the FCC read them, but maybe some congressional aid did.) One of my senators is firmly on Pai's side, but the other one and my house rep say they support net neutrality. Whether they support it enough to take strong action to rein in the FCC is unclear.

[osewalrus]

Your house Rep. is, I believe, Doyle. He is a staunch ally.

Keep working on Toomey. Collins has come out against Pai's plan. We may see more Republican defections.