Dear FCC Chairman Ajit Pai:
As you lately proclaimed, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), underneath your leadership, shortly can unharness rules to dismantle your agency’s existing “net neutrality” protections underneath Title II of the Communications Act, that defend the general public from anti-consumer behaviors of the large cable firms that offer high-speed web to the majority. In today’s digital age, the principles that govern the operation and delivery of web service to many ample
Americans ar crucial to the economic and social well-being of the state. however the method the FCC has used to think about probably sweeping alterations to current internet neutrality rules has been corrupted by the dishonorable use of Americans’ identities — and the FCC has been unwilling to help my workplace in our efforts to research this unlawful activity.
Specifically, for 6 months my workplace has been work WHO perpetrated an {enormous|a vast|a colossal} theme to corrupt the FCC’s notice and comment method through the misuse of enormous numbers of real New Yorkers’ and different Americans’ identities. Such conduct possible violates state law — yet the FCC has refused multiple requests for crucial proof in its sole possession that's very important to allow that enforcement investigation to proceed.
In Apr 2017, the FCC proclaimed that it'd issue a Notice of planned Rulemaking regarding repeal of its existing internet neutrality rules. Federal law needs the FCC and every one federal agencies to require public comments on planned rules into account — so it's necessary that the general public comment method truly modify the voices of the ample people and businesses WHO are going to be affected to be detected. That’s necessary notwithstanding one’s position on internet neutrality, environmental rules, so several different areas during which federal agencies regulate.
In might 2017, researchers and reporters discovered that the FCC’s public comment method was being corrupted by the submission of monumental numbers of faux comments regarding the potential repeal of internet neutrality rules. In doing thus, the offender or perpetrators attacked what's alleged to be AN open public method by trying to noise and negate the views of the important folks, businesses, et al. WHO honestly commented on this necessary issue. Worse, whereas a number of these faux comments used created up
names and addresses, several abused the important names and addresses of actual folks as a part of the trouble to undermine the integrity of the comment method. That’s resembling fraud, and it happened on a colossal scale.
My workplace analyzed the faux comments and located that tens of thousands of recent Yorkers might have had their identities abused during this approach. (Indeed, analysis showed that, in all, many thousands of usa citizens possible were victimised within the same approach, as well as tens of thousands per state in CA, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and presumably others.) Impersonation and different misuse of a person’s identity violates ny law, thus my workplace launched AN investigation.
Successfully work this kind of prohibited conduct needs the participation of the agency whose system was attacked. thus in June 2017, we have a tendency to contacted the FCC to request bound records associated with its public comment system that were necessary to research that dangerous actor or actors were behind the misconduct. we have a tendency to created our request for logs and different records a minimum of nine times over five months: in June, July, August, September, October (three times), and Gregorian calendar month.
We reached out for help to multiple prime FCC officers, as well as you, 3 consecutive acting FCC General Counsels, and also the FCC’s military officer. we have a tendency to offered to stay the requested records confidential, as we have a tendency to had done once my workplace and also the FCC shared info and documents as a part of past fact-finding work.
Yet we've received no substantive response to our fact-finding requests. None.
This investigation isn’t concerning the substantive problems regarding internet neutrality. For my half, I even have long publically advocated for sturdy internet neutrality rules underneath the Title II of the Communications Act, and studies show that the overwhelming majority of usa citizens WHO took the time to jot down public comments to the FCC concerning the difficulty feel constant approach whereas a awfully tiny minority favor repeal.
But this isn’t this. It’s concerning the correct to manage one’s own identity and forestall the corruption of a method designed to solicit the opinion of real folks and establishments. Misuse of identity on-line by the many thousands ought to concern everyone — for and against internet neutrality, New Yorker or Texan, Democrat or Republican.
We all have a robust reason to carry responsible people who would steal Americans’ identities and assault the public’s right to be detected in government rulemaking. If enforcement can’t investigate and (where appropriate) prosecute once it happens on this scale, the door is open for it to happen once more and once more.
I encourage the FCC to rethink its refusal to help in my office’s enforcement investigation to spot and hold responsible people who illicitly abused such a big amount of New Yorkers’ identities to corrupt the general public comment method. In AN era wherever foreign governments have indisputably tried to use the net and social media to influence our elections, federal and state governments ought to be operating along to make sure that malevolent actors cannot subvert our body agencies’ decision-making processes.
Sincerely,
Eric T. Schneiderman
CC:
Mignon Clyburn, Commissioner
Michael O’Rielly, Commissioner
Brendan Carr, Commissioner
Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner
Thomas M. Johnson, Jr., General Counsel
David L. Hunt, military officer
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