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Report: FBI opens criminal investigation into net neutrality comment fraud
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the use of stolen identities in public comments on the government's repeal of net neutrality rules, BuzzFeed News reported Saturday.
The investigation focuses on "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," the report said.
"Two organizations told BuzzFeed News, each on condition that they not be named, that the FBI delivered subpoenas to them related to the comments," BuzzFeed wrote.
The FBI subpoenas came a few days after similar subpoenas sent by NY AG Barbara Underwood in mid-October. Underwood "subpoenaed more than a dozen telecommunications trade groups, lobbying contractors, and Washington advocacy organizations," The New York Times reported in October.
Previously: John Oliver Leads Net Neutrality Defenders to Crash FCC Website. Again.
Bot Floods the FCC's Website with Anti-Net Neutrality Comments
FCC Officially Publishes Net Neutrality Repeal
U.S. Officially Repeals Net Neutrality Rules; FOIA Request Reveals Details of Bogus DDoS Attack
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Passes Blame Over Lying About Public Comment System Being DDoSed
99.7 Percent of Unique FCC Comments Favored Net Neutrality
Ajit Pai Admits Russia Interfered in Net Neutrality Process amid Lawsuit
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Fluffeh on Tuesday December 11 2018, @08:59PM (13 children)
That's really about all my thoughts on this matter. Great that an investigation is being brought to order, I hope that it gets to the bottom of who did what - and then most importantly WHY they did it. Was it to further their own goals, was it to further the goals of their donors or friends or was it to try to do the right thing and what people wanted to have done by the repeal.
I hope all of that comes to light in a simple, easy to read document that gets the air-time it deserves.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday December 11 2018, @09:00PM (5 children)
Poll: 83 percent of voters support keeping FCC's net neutrality rules [thehill.com]
(Score: 1, Disagree) by fustakrakich on Tuesday December 11 2018, @09:33PM (4 children)
Gee, I wonder why they didn't elect a congress to do it... Stop listening to media polls. They are garbage.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 11 2018, @09:45PM (1 child)
You promise to be online every time I have a question? It is clear that only you are capable of divining Universal Truth.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday December 11 2018, @10:09PM
You promise to be online every time I have a question?
Nope. You're on your own, kid...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday December 13 2018, @03:21PM (1 child)
Because there was no way to vote for such a Congress. All Republicans and a substantial percentage of Democrats support the ability of telecoms to do pretty much whatever they want, and all non-Demoblicans/Republicrats are too powerless to gain control of Congress. The Democrats that are supportive of net neutrality are mostly the ones who get more of their money from Google and Facebook rather than Comcast and AT&T.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday December 13 2018, @09:19PM
Well, that only means people shouldn't vote for republicans and democrats. Gotta work on the source of the problem, not its symptoms.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Tuesday December 11 2018, @09:28PM (2 children)
Unfortunately, what's at least as likely is that there will be a "thorough" investigation that concludes that they can't figure out who was responsible. Ajit Pai made the decision he wanted to make, and the main reason we know this is that his job before running the FCC was lobbying for telecoms to try to convince the FCC to repeal their net neutrality rules. The "public" comments, such as they were, were to give him a political excuse to do it, not to actually influence anybody in power.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday December 11 2018, @10:13PM (1 child)
I have yet to see a Pai decision that is negative for Verizon.
Some decision may be Verizon-neutral (if not involved at all), but most can be directly traced to a benefit for Verizon.
Trump must really admire his loyalty to his masters. Maybe he'll get the Chief of Staff job.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 11 2018, @11:22PM
Why would Trump want someone loyal to Verizon as his chief of staff?
Or are you assuming his loyalties will change with the job change this time?
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday December 11 2018, @10:20PM (2 children)
Nothing will happen to anybody involved in this, because why would it?
The people who stand to benefit the most from this are the same people who fund the people who make the rules.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday December 11 2018, @11:17PM (1 child)
Something may still happen: 'discovering' that those who stand to benefit were 'not involved' and they are as white as the wash.
Magic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday December 11 2018, @11:35PM
Probably.
If telling massive porkies to Congress while under oath is not a crime, why would identity theft be?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday December 11 2018, @10:38PM
With heavy media promotion and distribution, in early October, 2020. I'm guessing it was suppressed to keep it out of play for the midterms.
🌻🌻 [google.com]