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New York Attorney General Expands Inquiry Into Net Neutrality Comments (nytimes.com)
The New York attorney general subpoenaed more than a dozen telecommunications trade groups, lobbying contractors and Washington advocacy organizations on Tuesday, seeking to determine whether the groups sought to sway a critical federal decision on internet regulation last year by submitting millions of fraudulent public comments, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation. From a report: Some of the groups played a highly public role in last year's battle, when the Republican-appointed majority on the Federal Communications Commission voted to revoke a regulation issued under President Barack Obama that classified internet service providers as public utilities. The telecommunications industry bitterly opposed the rules -- which imposed what supporters call "net neutrality" on internet providers -- and enthusiastically backed their repeal under President Trump. The attorney general, Barbara D. Underwood, last year began investigating the source of more than 22 million public comments submitted to the F.C.C. during the battle. Millions of comments were provided using temporary or duplicate email addresses, others recycled identical phrases, and seven popular comments, repeated verbatim, accounted for millions more.
No self-respecting institution sits back and endures fraudulent misrepresentation (on an astroturf scale) if they can do something about it (and they can, because the government has entire agencies with the capabilities and powers to do exactly that).
Submitting false documents to the government is a form of trolling, and in many contexts is illegal. It can also be a form of identity fraud and doxing to slap other's people's personal names and private credentials on top. It can end up denying my legitimate input a proper voice (because my name is also on top of a fraudulent opposite).
Being illegal used to be fair cause to investigate something.
There may be elements of the present government wishing to normalize bullshit to such a degree that you now have to stop and ask "and what else?" before you investigate something merely because it appears to have broken a law.
There's a name for putting law and order in to your rearview mirror. It's called anarchy. I am not a fan.
I, for one, do not welcome our new bullshit overlords.