Millions Of Comments About The FCC's Net Neutrality Rules Were Fake. Now The Feds Are Investigating.

[DonViejo]

Source: BuzzFeed News



People's names and addresses were listed on the FCC's website beside net neutrality comments they didn't make. Now the FBI is interested.

Kevin Collier
BuzzFeed News Reporter

Jeremy Singer-Vine
BuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on December 8, 2018, at 1:20 p.m. ET

The Justice Department is investigating whether crimes were committed when potentially millions of people’s identities were posted to the FCC’s website without their permission, falsely attributing to them opinions about net neutrality rules, BuzzFeed News has learned.

Two organizations told BuzzFeed News, each on condition that they not be named, that the FBI delivered subpoenas to them related to the comments. The reports are the first that federal investigators are taking in interest in the case, which was already subject to an investigation previously announced by the New York Attorney General’s office.

Both organizations had previously been subpoenaed by New York and said the scope of those subpoenas were similar.

The comment scheme took place over the course of months beginning in April 2017 after the Trump administration's FCC chair, Ajit Pai, moved to overturn Obama-era rules enforcing net neutrality, a regulation that prevented internet providers from choosing which web traffic gets to flow at full speed.




Read more: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kevincollier/feds-investigation-net-neutrality-comments

[pecosbob]

1. and Ajit Pai said what?

That's right...he said nothing.

It's like a family of travellers moved in and took over Washington...

[sandensea]

3. You mean A Shit Pie?

[dchill]

21. Oh yeah. That guy.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Well well

you think so? So Vald was carrying water for Verizon as well as AT&T.

[JudyM]

4. The hacking of our democracy.

[iluvtennis]

5. Yes

[jmowreader]

6. Find who did it...

...and put them in prison for identity theft.

[LeftInTX]

7. I reported to my senators...(R)

A few months later, I got a response from Cornyn. I don't remember what it said. But hopefully he did bring it to someone's attention. (I guess every complaint helps a little)

My identity was stolen.

[pecosbob]

8. If you mean stolen in this incident

then I believe that gives you standing in any litigation that may follow.

[LeftInTX]

9. Thanks!!

Yes, someone forged my name and address.

[diva77]

11. how did you find this out?

[herding cats]

17. You can enter your name here and it will show you.

https://ag.ny.gov/fakecomments

[diva77]

18. Thanks!

[politicaljunkie41910]

24. I checked for my name and they didn't say whether it was on the list or not. It just presented

Last edited Sat Dec 8, 2018, 10:04 PM - Edit history (1)

a very short list of names. Not sure whether that method can be considered conclusive or not. FTR, I have a pretty common name.

[LeftInTX]

27. Check the comments to see if they used your address

There are several people with my name. However, only the one's with my address can be attributed to me.

[mgardener]

23. Thanks

Name not on it!

[Initech]

10. Gee I wonder what country they originated from?

Oh let me guess!

[erronis]

13. Unfortunately, some of them might be from the USofA instead of the USSR (aka Russia)

Perhaps some of Dotard's Deplorables might actually know how to use the innertubes and write kiddie-scripts to submit bogus comments to a RW-friendly Ajit federal web site. But my guess is that the one 400 pound deplorable living in the basement of his Sackler-induced-opioid-dependant grandmother has a hard time finding enough diet-coke to keep him from trying to emulate his twitter-chief-hog, DJT.

Shorter version - this is coming from putine or from libertarians in the USofA or both in conjunction.

[pecosbob]

12. We've seen a lot of this kind of thing from ALEC and their ilk in the past

flooding 'citizen' input and feedback to further their agenda. The bots are a new twist, but what was pretty abhorrent to me was Pai's response and cover-up.

[erronis]

14. Yup - ALEC has the plutocrat's funding to buy some bot-slinging techies. They are also abhorrent.

I've worked several jobs for some gov't projects that I didn't agree with. But I never felt they were aimed at subverting democracy, here or abroad.

A nice salary for a person able to breach security and insert viral payloads/etc. is not much different than blackmail and could also be treasonous. Even if you are working in the "operations directorate."

[onit2day]

22. Net neutrality is widely popular so the millions of comments to get rid of it

Is very suspicious. Very few people were against getting rid of it and Pai is a bought and sold con, completely untrustworthy.

[elmac]

15. The best government money can buy. nt

[Deb]

16. Thanks for posting. I filed a complaint with the NY AG's office when they reached out to us.

[lark]

19. Russian trolls paid by contributions from AT&T to destroy Net Neutrality.

We know AT&T gave a huge sum to drumpf/Cohen for no specified reason, wonder if this was it?

[Achilleaze]

20. republican lies are dangerous for America

republican lies are dangerous for America
republican lies are dangerous for America
republican lies are dangerous for America

[ck4829]

25. K&R

[YOHABLO]

26. Let's just call the Republican party for what it is: A Criminal Organization. They destroy for $$$