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FCC Chairman Admits Russia Meddled In Net Neutrality Debate (engadget.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the ties-overseas dept.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has admitted that around 500,000 comments submitted during the net neutrality public comment period were linked to Russia email addresses. "Pai noted in a court filing that most of the comments were in favor of net neutrality, which the FCC repealed last December," reports Engadget. From the report: The New York Times and BuzzFeed News have filed freedom of information requests in the hopes of uncovering the extent of fraudulent comments and Russian influence in the net neutrality process. Pai's filing was part of an FCC memorandum that addressed the requests, and the agency has argued that releasing the data could expose the U.S. to cyberattacks.

Pai's concession underscores how Russia's influence on U.S. democracy extends beyond headline-grabbing election interference and fake news peddling, and it also reflects the litany of issues the FCC faced during the net neutrality comment period. Over half of the almost 22 million comments came from phony, temporary or duplicate email addresses, according to a study, and reportedly only 17.4 percent of the comments were unique.

5 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Take that in Slashdot, you are siding with Russ by msauve · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Most of you here on Slashdot are supporting a side Russia is strongly supporting. Doesn't that tell you anything about how wrong it is to support Net Neutrality as the FCC had it?"

    Huh? Why? Are you unable to think for yourself, so you just have a knee-jerk reaction that anything the Russians might be for, for any reason, you're against?

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  2. Why would he care either way by HalAtWork · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What I don't get is why he was featured in propaganda: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=...

    Why would he want to placate people in such a transparent way and taunt people and take sides instead of taking a diligent role in objectively looking into the issues of concern, or why he would refuse to help investigate the comments.

    This truly shows how out of touch and ineffective he is.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
    1. Re:Why would he care either way by meglon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because he's a hyper-partisan piece of shit that doesn't want to govern... he just wants power.

      --
      Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  3. Re:Take that in Slashdot, you are siding with Russ by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 4, Informative

    Just in case that needs clarifying:

    Of the approximately 3,828,000 legitimate email comments received by FCC:

    3,816,516 were in favor of Net Neutrality.

    Only 11,484 were not.

    Obviously the numbers are subject to rounding error. But rounding error is pretty irrelevant when the majority is that overwhelming.

  4. Re: Take that in Slashdot, you are siding with Rus by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 4, Funny

    And here is a wookie. The defence rests your honour.

    --
    Jumpstart the tartan drive.