FCC Chairman: a 'half-million' net neutrality comments came from Russian email addresses

[Polycount]

It's no secret that the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) vote to kill off net neutrality was a divisive one, and no matter which side of the matter you find yourself on, the circumstances surrounding the vote were unusual, to say the least.

For starters, the FCC at the time claimed their website -- which allowed the public to comment on the anti-net neutrality proposal -- was DDoS attacked, which was later proven false. Furthermore, many of the comments left through the system were fake or left using stolen identities.

Now, the comment system controversy has gotten even worse. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has admitted in a statement that roughly 500,000 comments left around the time of the Commission's December net neutrality vote were submitted from Russian email addresses. Pai says most of the Russian comments in question were actually pro-net neutrality, rather than against.

Pai says most of the Russian comments in question were actually pro-net neutrality, rather than against.

To be clear, this portion of Pai's statement was small, and it seems he only brought this information up to make a point about his fellow Commissioner, Jessica Rosenworcel. Rosenworcel, for the unaware, voted against Pai's net neutrality-killing proposal.

With this in mind, we recommend you read Pai's full statement for the appropriate context. The relevant excerpt is as follows, however:

Instead, one finds the now-standard overheated rhetoric about “net neutrality” (omitting, as usual, the fact that the half-million comments submitted from Russian e-mail addresses and the nearly eight million comments filed by e-mail addresses from e-mail domains associated with FakeMailGenerator.com supported her position on the issue!).

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https://www.techspot.com/news/77731-fcc-chairman-admits-russia-meddled-net-neutrality-debate.html

 

[toooooot]

Plot twist, internet providers paid Russian hackers to send those email while also letting mr garbage pie know about this detail to help them both achieve full synergy and material enrichment.

 

[Nocturne]

Question, if alot of them are filled out by people using some kind of VPN would they be able to track where it came from or assume it comes from a specific country...like say Russia?

 

[kapital98]

Question, if alot of them are filled out by people using some kind of VPN would they be able to track where it came from or assume it comes from a specific country...like say Russia?

Most people who use VPNs don't do a good job of hiding their tracks. The point of origin can be found if enough work is put in by intelligence officers. Sites will often track other issues that (such as resolution of browser window) that help corroborate other evidence.

There are ways around this. Smart hackers will hide their tracks better.

Most of the time we do not find people unless they are really sloppy and we feel like the resources are necessary to collect information or prosecute. Which is why russian troll farms have had so much attention in the last 3-5 years.

 

[Evernessince]

I'm just going to wait for the democrats to get into congress to subpoena this information before I take Pai's word for it. This guy has already been caught lying multiple times.

He should have been served a subpoena the moment the public learned that he lied. Instead the republican leadership refuses to spend a minute investigating their own. It'll be 10 more benghazi and email investigations before they would even consider it.

 

[gigantor21]

I'm just going to wait for the democrats to get into congress to subpoena this information before I take Pai's word for it. This guy has already been caught lying multiple times.

He should have been served a subpoena the moment the public learned that he lied. Instead the republican leadership refuses to spend a minute investigating their own. It'll be 10 more benghazi and email investigations before they would even consider it.

It's pretty funny how their itchy trigger fingers on investigations never applies to stuff that might make them look bad. Funny, and pathetic.

 

[wiyosaya]

Pai is a piece of work. He says nothing about what percentage of the comments were from Russian IP addresses or from fakemailgenerator. All it sounds like he is doing is tooting his own horn, blaming something on a member of the opposite political party, and playing the deflection game from the real issues all the while maintaining how superior his leadership is. He must be taking advice from someone higher up. Its all standard playbook not entirely unexpected from a liar playing CmoA

 

[Evernessince]

It's pretty funny how their itchy trigger fingers on investigations never applies to stuff that might make them look bad. Funny, and pathetic.

I wouldn't even say it would look bad. I would respect them much more if they did. Them playing partisan politics makes them look bad but they are only trying to appeal to their base, which loves that sort of stuff. As an independent, I can't vote for candidates that willfully lie in order to protect their party. Country over party.

 

[seeprime]

Pai joked about the FCC being Verizon's DC branch in the past. The man is a total sellout to his friends at Verizon, in particular, and other ISP's in general. He doesn't serve the American public.

 

[Reachable]

I'd be willing to bet that this is all just a complete lie. And an artless one at that. The Democrats started it, but now it's completely established that you can blame Russia for any results that don't go your way, and the public, addled by the constant propaganda, would be assumed to buy into it.

In this case, though, it's quite apparent that the overwhelming sentiment of the public is to keep net neutrality, because to do otherwise benefits no one except the ISPs. Nice try, but this is one case where even the less informed know enough to not be gullible to nonsense like this.

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Pause. Sigh. Head-scratch. ...How does this get us some real competition?

 

[lipe123]

Pause. Sigh. Head-scratch. ...How does this get us some real competition?

Don't be ridiculous, the FCC's mandate is not to ensure fair competition or affordable high speed internet for all! It exists only to soak up millions of $'s from Lobbyists from the current large ISP's to keep the status quo.

Such blatant corruption is sickening

 

[senketsu]

Chairman Pai, I'm at a loss for words as I consider you, worse, he's the tip of the iceberg in government

 

[wiyosaya]

I'd be willing to bet that this is all just a complete lie. And an artless one at that. The Democrats started it, but now it's completely established that you can blame Russia for any results that don't go your way, and the public, addled by the constant propaganda, would be assumed to buy into it.

In this case, though, it's quite apparent that the overwhelming sentiment of the public is to keep net neutrality, because to do otherwise benefits no one except the ISPs. Nice try, but this is one case where even the less informed know enough to not be gullible to nonsense like this.

Pai isn't even blaming Russia. He's blaming his colleague.