FCC Emails Show Agency Spread Lies To Bolster Dubious DDoS Attack Claims: Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)

As the FCC was grappling with accusations of a fake cyberattack last spring, it intentionally misled several news organizations, choosing to feed journalists false information, while at the same time discouraging them from challenging the agency's official story, news outlet Gizmodo reported Tuesday. From the report: Internal emails reviewed by Gizmodo lay bare the agency's efforts to counter rife speculation that senior officials manufactured a cyberattack, allegedly to explain away technical problems plaguing the FCC's comment system amid its high-profile collection of public comments on a controversial and since-passed proposal to overturn federal net neutrality rules.

The FCC has been unwilling or unable to produce any evidence an attack occurred -- not to the reporters who've requested and even sued over it, and not to U.S. lawmakers who've demanded to see it. Instead, the agency conducted a quiet campaign to bolster its cyberattack story with the aid of friendly and easily duped reporters, chiefly by spreading word of an earlier cyberattack that its own security staff say never happened.

Comments

We know who they mean

[smooth wombat]

the agency conducted a quiet campaign to bolster its cyberattack story with the aid of friendly and easily duped reporters

In other words, the Fox tabloid was complicit in this sham. What a surprise. This is the same group who is furiously backpedaling when they put out a picture of a Philadelphia Eagle's player kneeling, but used the picture for a story about players kneeling for the anthem. The player is a Christian and was doing a pre-game prayer. He even called them out for their propaganda.

Re:We know who they mean

[msauve]

The media correctly reported Trump's figure (actually 1475, you exaggerate) in that case. If they had used numbers from the Obama administration (for the "first half of FY 2016"), it would have been 4156 "lost children."

Colons in headlines

[Anonymous Coward]

Once again, msmash, you're doing it wrong. The person saying the thing goes before the colon, and what they're saying goes after.

Re:Holy Shit!

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

"Pravda and Izvestia, meant "the truth" and "the news" respectively, a popular saying was "there's no truth in Pravda and no news in Izvestia""

from Wikipedia, but I learned that in Russian class in 1986 (I don't remember much else)