Schneiderman claims that the fake remarks constitute illegal acting and misuse of a person’s identity, and that “tens of thousands” of New York state residents are potentially affected. “The perpetrator or perpetrators carried what is thought to be an open public manner by trying to drown out and meet the views of the real people, companies, and others who really said on this important issue,” he writes. Using real names to do it is “akin to identification theft, and it happened on a large scale.”
He says that his office first joined the FCC in June, and has made at least nine requests between June and November, seeking private access to works related to the FCC’s comment system. “Yet we have experienced no substantive response to our investigative requests. None,” he says. Schneiderman didn’t specify how exactly these records might help the research, but he says they are “necessary” to assume out who was behind the comments.
Schneiderman’s prediction was posted soon after the FCC published plans to repeal net neutrality rules next month, degrading or possibly discharging rules that stop ISPs from selectively slowing or checking web traffic. He says this line isn’t determined to be a political record about these rules, but it assumes that the FCC made its judgment based on invalid information. “The process the FCC has used to think potentially sweeping changes to current net neutrality rules has been damaged by the fraudulent use of Americans’ identities and the FCC has been reluctant to assist my office in our efforts to review this unlawful activity,” he writes.
People whose names were assigned to fake comments have previously supported the FCC to run its own research into the comments, and Sen. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) requested an FBI probe in June. But the FCC has visited generally quiet about the issue, and the firm didn’t immediately return an emailed invitation for comment about this latest news.
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