Verizon Busted for Incredibly Fraudulent Behavior in New Jersey Thursday Apr 17 2014 08:31 EDT The other day we noted how Verizon was using manufactured astroturf to help the company sneak out of a broadband obligation to wire the entire state of New Jersey with 45 Mbps broadband by 2010. That obligation came with the benefit of millions in tax cuts and other benefits, though it seems New Jersey is perfectly happy to let Verizon forget the promise entirely. Ars Technica has a follow up piece exploring in more detail how folks whose e-mail addresses were used to "support" Verizon's backtracking are saying they never wrote any letters on the issue: quote: To make sure it doesn't have to complete the buildout to all of New Jersey's 8.9 million residents, Verizon led an astroturf campaign that flooded the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) with hundreds of identical e-mails purporting to support Verizon's case. One person who is listed as having written one of these e-mails told Ars that he didn't submit anything, and if he did, "I would've slammed them."
While some supporters appear to be manufactured outright, others were misled into sending Verizon-written form letters to the state BPU. Stop the Cap notes that Verizon used vendors like the 60 Plus Association who were sending people e-mails misleading them on what Verizon was actually doing: quote: “I hope you are doing well. I have a favor to ask,” one e-mail read. “I’m working on a project for our client, Verizon, and they need some signatures to an online petition. Verizon wants to expand its offerings in New Jersey, but needs approval from the state. Higher-speed Internet, more FiOS, etc."
Of course by signing off on the stipulation agreement, the people would be doing the exact opposite. This really moves well beyond the usual sockpuppetry and astroturf and well into the territory of fraud, and it will be curious to see if anybody, anywhere has any interest in holding Verizon accountable for it. |
4 recommendations |
anONymousus
Anon
2014-Apr-17 9:07 am
It's not just NJverizon is built upon fraud and greed, and it's not just NJ, it's every state where they do any wireline or wireless business. It's time for the FCC to take back the people's spectrum, it's time for verizon to be regulated within a inch of their life. The FCC screwed up when they allowed verizon to be in the first place. | |
|