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John Oliver Leads Net Neutrality Defenders to Crash FCC Website. Again.

posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday May 09 2017, @02:21PM   
from the public-servants-not-serving-the-public dept.

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Common Dreams reports

Last Week Tonight host John Oliver on [May 7] issued another powerful rallying cry to save net neutrality protections, and, repeating the outcome of his 2014 plea, his viewers flooded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) site, causing it to temporarily crash.

[...] Oliver said it's worth noting that [FCC Chairman Ajit] Pai is "a former lawyer for Verizon", a company which "won a lawsuit which meant that if the FCC wanted strong, enforceable protection, its only real option was to reclassify the ISPs, and yet he cheerily insists under questioning that there is just not evidence that cable companies were engaging in rampant wrongdoing".

"Title II is the most solid legal foundation we have right now for a strong, enforceable net neutrality protections", Oliver said, and urged "we, the people, [to] take this matter into our own hands".

To that end, Last Week Tonight bought the domain name gofccyourself.com, which redirects users to the official FCC page[1] where open internet advocates can leave a comment and call for these protections to remain in place. (Oliver notes that it simplifies the commenting process the FCC "has made more difficult since three years ago".)

"Everyone needs to get involved. Comment now, and then maybe comment again when the FCC makes its proposal official. Even call you representative and your senators", Oliver urged.

So successful was the start of his campaign, according to Motherboard, that there was such a high volume of traffic flooding the Federal Communications Commission that the site temporarily went down. As of this writing, it is up and running again.

[1] The fcc.gov page is almost entirely behind scripts.

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Original Submission

• API? API? (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:28AM (1 child)

  by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:28AM (#507209)

  I wonder if John Oliver called them ahead of time and asked about their API:

  With the opening of a new proceeding on Restoring Internet Freedom, the Commission anticipates
  significant public engagement and a high volume of filings. The Consumer and Governmental Affairs
  Bureau provides this guidance to facilitate public participation and to make commenting easy.
  Those who wish to file individual comments may submit them electronically via the Electronic Comment
  Filing System (ECFS) at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/ [fcc.gov] . However, we anticipate that some may wish to
  submit a large number of comments from multiple individuals, each with the same or similar content. We
  strongly encourage parties who seek to file a large number of comments or 'group' comments to do so
  through the public API
  1
  or the Commission's electronic inbox established for this proceeding, called
  Restoring Internet Freedom Comments at https://www.fcc.gov/restoring-internet-freedom-comments. [fcc.gov]
  2

  We also ask parties who anticipate submitting group comments to contact us in advance so that we can
  assist with a smooth filing process. You can reach us at ECFSHelp@fcc.gov and (202) 418-0193.
  We expect that filing group comments through the inbox will be simpler than filing through ECFS. We
  ask commenters to be patient, as there may be some lag time between when filings are made and when
  they appear in ECFS. We assure all timely filers, though, that their submissions will be part of the record
  in this proceeding.

  - Consumer And Governmental Affairs Bureau Guidance On Filing Comments In The Restoring Internet Freedom Proceeding (txt vesion) [fcc.gov]

  Looks like his site directs to the individual comment section:

  Individual Comments
  Those who wish to file individual comments should submit them electronically via the Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) by going to Proceeding 17-108 at https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/proceedings?q=name:((17-108)) [fcc.gov] and clicking on the "+ Express" link to file an express comment.

  Bulk Comments

  We strongly encourage parties who seek to file a large number of comments or “group” comments to do so through the public API; Documentation on the ECFS Public API is here: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/public-api-docs.html [fcc.gov]
  ...
  In order to ensure that bulk comments on the Restoring Internet Freedom proceeding are properly recorded in ECFS, please use the .CSV template provided below. Failure to use the template will result in bulk uploads being recorded as a single comment. Document content that is not CSV nor text nor an accepted format* may prevent its inclusion in ECFS attachment.

  I have not yet found guidance on what people are supposed to be commenting on...

  Starting Score:	1		point
  Karma-Bonus Modifier		+1
  Total Score:		2

• Update (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:56AM

  by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:56AM (#507221)

  Think I may have found the subject of the comments:

  Restoring Internet Freedom– The Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
  that would propose to restore the Internet to a light-touch regulatory framework by classifying
  broadband Internet access service as an information service and by seeking comment on the
  existing rules governing Internet service providers’ practices. (WC Docket No. 17-108)

  - FCC ANNOUNCES TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR MAY OPEN MEETING [fcc.gov]

  YouTube gives me "This video is not available." on the original video with 2.6 million views. No reason is given.

  I think if a video is taken down, the view counter is not usually included.

  Parent