Two Senators are demanding answers from the FCC after they discovered that their identities were stolen during the FCC's net neutrality repeal. In a letter sent to the FCC this week, Senators Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon, and Pat Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, say they were among the 2 million Americans that had their identities stolen and demanded answers from the FCC as to why the agency didn't do more (read: anything) to either stop or investigate the problem.
"The federal rulemaking process is an essential part of our democracy and allows Americans the opportunity to express their opinions on how government agencies decide important regulatory issues," the lawmakers wrote.
"As such, we are concerned about the aforementioned fraudulent activity," they added. "We need to prevent the deliberate misuse of Americans’ personal information and ensure that the FCC is working to protect against current and future vulnerabilities in its system."
The comment fraud was an obvious attempt to downplay the massive opposition to the FCC's net neutrality repeal and undermine trust in the public comment process. In some instances the names stolen were of real people (like myself), but in many instances the names user to submit bogus comments belonged to dead people.
“We encourage the FCC to determine who facilitated these fake comments,” the letter continues. “While we understand and agree with the need to protect individuals’ privacy, we request that the FCC share with the public the total number of fake comments that were filed.”
We've noted how the Ajit Pai run FCC not only turned a blind eye to the fraudulent comments, they actively blocked a law enforcement inquiry into who engaged in the fraud. It remains unclear who was behind the sleazy behavior to try and downplay public opposition to the FCC's plan, but it's abundantly clear who benefitted.
"People are losing faith in their democracy," notes Even Greer, Deputy Director of the pro net neutrality group Fight for the Future.
"The FCC’s repeal of net neutrality is set to go into effect in a matter of weeks, despite the fact that the process around it has been riddled with serious issues of fraud and abuse that the agency has thus far refused to address," said Greer. "These Senators are asking exactly the right questions. Providing oversight for the FCC is Congress’ job. Every member of the House should sign the discharge petition for the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to block the repeal right now, to ensure that these essential protections for Internet users and small businesses remain in place while a thorough investigation into these fraudulent comments can take place."
