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FCC Won't Release DDoS Logs, And Will Probably Honor Fake Comments (zdnet.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the staying-neutral dept.

An anonymous reader quotes ZDNet on the alleged denial of service attack which blocked comments supporting net neutrality. In a ZDNet interview, FCC chief information officer David Bray said that the agency would not release the logs, in part because the logs contain private information, such as IP addresses. In unprinted remarks, he said that the logs amounted to about 1 gigabyte per hour during the alleged attack... The log files showed that non-human [and cloud-based] bots submitted a flood of comments using the FCC's API. The bot that submitted these comments sparked the massive uptick in internet traffic on the FCC by using the public API as a vehicle...

Bray's comments further corroborate a ZDNet report (and others) that showed unknown anti-net neutrality spammers were behind the posting of hundreds of thousands of the same messages to the FCC's website using people's names and addresses without their consent -- a so-called "astroturfing" technique -- in an apparent attempt to influence the results of a public solicitation for feedback on net neutrality. Speaking to reporters last week, FCC chairman Ajit Pai hinted that the agency would likely honor those astroturfed comments, nonetheless.

8 of 83 comments (clear)

  1. Post Truth by GWXerog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is this the post-truth world that I keep hearing about?

    1. Re:Post Truth by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The decision against NN had already been made, and the "public comments" were just political theater. So it doesn't really matter if they were DDOSed, since they would have had no effect either way.

  2. Hack Job by mbone · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Speaking to reporters last week, FCC chairman Ajit Pai hinted that the agency would likely honor those astroturfed comments, nonetheless.

    Why not? He presumably paid good money for them.

    1. Re:Hack Job by Cyberpunk+Reality · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sooner or later, the American public is going to stop honoring their fake democracy. Then we'll be in for some real interesting times.

      --
      Rule 35 of the internet: "If it can be hacked, it will be". - Charles Stross
  3. The message is clear. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The only way to win is to cheat.

    The rules are only there to stop good people from winning.

  4. Why a Public Comment API? by JaneTheIgnorantSlut · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Seems to me that this would ensure that the comment mechanism is useless.

    1. Re:Why a Public Comment API? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It seems very useful to me. The FCC wants to get rid of net neutrality. A bunch of anti-net neutrality bots post comments. The FCC says, "look at all these comments supporting us!" The rules then passed are very "popular" and sufficiently express the "views" of the American people.

      It would only be useless if the FCC cared what you think.

  5. Re: The FCC was always like this by kqs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Except that under Obama, the FCC was all set to destroy NN until a large public outcry changed their mind. So they put ISPs under Title II instead, completely reversing course.

    So I think you mean "the comments are always ignored when one party is in power. The other party does sometimes listen to public comments."

    If you vote for politicians who ignore you, then this is on you. Sadly, the rest of us are also stuck.