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Ajit Pai admits FCC lied about "DDoS," blames it on Obama administration
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai acknowledged Monday that the FCC lied about its public comment system being taken down by a DDoS attack during the net neutrality repeal proceeding.
Pai blamed the spreading of false information on employees hired by the Obama administration and said that he isn't to blame because he "inherited... a culture" from "the prior Administration" that led to the spreading of false information. Pai wrote:
I am deeply disappointed that the FCC's former Chief Information Officer [David Bray], who was hired by the prior Administration and is no longer with the Commission, provided inaccurate information about this incident to me, my office, Congress, and the American people. This is completely unacceptable. I'm also disappointed that some working under the former CIO apparently either disagreed with the information that he was presenting or had questions about it, yet didn't feel comfortable communicating their concerns to me or my office."
Pai's admission came in a statement yesterday. "It has become clear that in addition to a flawed comment system, we inherited from the prior Administration a culture in which many members of the Commission's career IT staff were hesitant to express disagreement with the Commission's former CIO in front of FCC management," he also said.
Also at The Verge:
The toughest condemnation of Pai's actions came from Fight for the Future, a net neutrality advocacy organization, which called for Pai to step down. "Ajit Pai should resign. These new revelations from the FCC's internal investigation are a smoking gun," the group said in a statement. "They clearly show that the FCC chairman knew months ago that there had never been a cyber attack on the FCC's comment system, but did nothing, allowing the false narrative to spread in a cynical attempt to downplay the overwhelming opposition to his attack on net neutrality."
Previously: John Oliver Leads Net Neutrality Defenders to Crash FCC Website. Again.
Senator Blasts FCC for Refusing to Provide DDoS Analysis
FCC Says its Specific Plan to Stop DDoS Attacks Must Remain Secret
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday August 14 2018, @01:13PM (3 children)
Lying is their job, aka diplomacy. The current administration just does the "make the lie believable and unoffensive" part very, very poorly.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 14 2018, @02:22PM
I read this in the Hitchhiker's guide recently; it hit me like a ton of bricks.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Wednesday August 15 2018, @08:08AM (1 child)
They seem to go more for the big lie: "...when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous."
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday August 15 2018, @01:51PM
It's not a risk of looking ridiculous, it's an intentional goal.
I think this is called "negotiation by outrage" - it's a childish tactic and usually backfires, but can have some limited success. For example: Land for sale, asking $60,000 - I offer $32,000, seller declines but counters with $48,000 - we negotiate from there and I end up buying the land for $44,000. If I had started with an offer of $44,000 and stuck to it, the deal would likely have just died. Sitting and stewing on the ridiculous idea of $32,000 softened the seller's idea of what their lowest acceptable price was.
🌻🌻 [google.com]