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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.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by NotSanguine on Tuesday May 09 2017, @04:36PM (7 children)
Someone has given people a countervailing script against net neutrality. A cursory Internet search doesn't find this specific text, however it does echo the mendacious narrative of those who want to gut net neutrality.
There are quite a number of identical comments which read:
The unprecedented regulatory power the Obama Administration imposed on the internet is smothering innovation, damaging the American economy and obstructing job creation. I urge the Federal Communications Commission to end the bureaucratic regulatory overreach of the internet known as Title II and restore the bipartisan light-touch regulatory consensus that enabled the internet to flourish for more than 20 years. The plan currently under consideration at the FCC to repeal Obama's Title II power grab is a positive step forward and will help to promote a truly free and open internet for everyone.
The interesting part is that all of these comments are exactly the same. The sad part is that the message is disingenuous at best.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Tuesday May 09 2017, @04:54PM
That is astroturfing 101: The idea is that the ISP lobbyists can now say "Commissioners, we've had 75,000 public comments backing our position." and pretend those represent 75,000 concerned individuals when they in fact represent 1 corporation with access to Tor and/or a botnet and some basic scripting technology. Or alternately, pay 75,000 people $5 apiece to post something like that comment.
The commissioners, of course, could call BS on that, because those comments are suspiciously similar, but won't because they already want to do what the ISP wants to, and the fake public comments give them some political cover to do what they already want to do for other rea$on$.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday May 09 2017, @05:01PM (5 children)
An interesting point in Oliver's coverage was the quote from a Verizon shareholders meeting, by the CEO, where they said Title II regulation had no effect on their expansion/upgrade plans.
If you lie at a shareholders meeting it's considered fraud and can result in jail time.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday May 09 2017, @06:29PM (4 children)
I do find it fascinating how lying to shareholders is a criminal offense or at least a civil tort, while lying to the press is called "Public Relations", lying to employees is called "Human Resource Management", and lying to the government is called "Regulatory Compliance".
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09 2017, @06:48PM (1 child)
Two words: Fiduciary Duty
Its such a big deal that Turmp is rolling back the requirement [businessinsider.com] that investment advisors to grandmas be required to meet that same standard.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday May 09 2017, @07:52PM
I understand full well that what I stated was legally just fine. That doesn't automatically make it moral or logical or reasonable.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday May 09 2017, @10:36PM (1 child)
Hey now! I never lied to the government in a compliance situation!
So.....um......what does lying to Thexalon get? Asking for a friend...
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday May 10 2017, @12:52AM
Often, an embarrassing reply post.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.