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highplainsdem

(48,718 posts)
Wed May 10, 2017, 01:32 PM May 2017

A bot is flooding the FCC's website with fake anti-net neutrality comments

Source: ZDNet

So much so that more than 58,000 identical comments (some are reporting significantly more) have been posted since the feedback doors were opened, now representing a significant slice of the comments on the FCC's feedback docket.

"The unprecedented regulatory power the Obama Administration imposed on the internet is smothering innovation, damaging the American economy and obstructing job creation," the comment says. "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 comments follow the same pattern: the bot appears to cycle through names in an alphabetical order, leaving the person's name, and postal address and zip code.

We reached out to two-dozen people by phone, and we left voicemails when nobody picked up. A couple of people late Tuesday called back and confirmed that they had not left any messages on the FCC's website. One of the returning callers specifically said they didn't know what net neutrality was. A third person reached in a Facebook message Tuesday also confirmed that they had not left any comments on any website.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.zdnet.com/article/a-bot-is-flooding-the-fccs-website-with-fake-anti-net-neutrality-comments/

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Raster

(20,996 posts)
1. Looks like the Russian/RepubliCON botnet is earning it's keep...
Wed May 10, 2017, 01:37 PM
May 2017

...roll the critter over... betting there's a COMCAST logo.

Eliot Rosewater

(31,096 posts)
2. We can count on net neutrality going away within days, if I understand the process
Wed May 10, 2017, 01:37 PM
May 2017

of how they do that.

Not sure.

It will be done, that is for sure. Even IF the person acting as president who is actively conducting foreign espionage for Russia is impeached.

MattP

(3,304 posts)
3. The FCC is doing alot of damage with barely any coverage
Wed May 10, 2017, 01:38 PM
May 2017

The train wreck around them is giving them cover

byronius

(7,369 posts)
5. Submit button is not responding.
Wed May 10, 2017, 02:10 PM
May 2017

Why am I not shocked.

Update: No browser works. Submit button is dead. Great strategy, KGOP!

briv1016

(1,570 posts)
9. It never really mattered. They werent going to listen anyway.
Wed May 10, 2017, 05:24 PM
May 2017

They just want to be able to say that 75-80% of responses were in favor of de-regulation.

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