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More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

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Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#11

Post by wpietri »

Natsu wrote: post #5
everdev wrote: post #2

Just like the election, I wonder if the people behind this care if they get caught as long as they get what they want first. There doesn't seem to be much precedent for overturning laws or elections that were subject to misinformation campaigns.

Does it really matter? This wasn't a vote and they weren't listening to our opinions anyhow, this was just some jerk spamming a comment box. What really matters is that they're on the site of the ISPs that want to screw us all over. I still remember the very start of net neutrality when everyone was still on the same side, before the lobbyists went to work dividing us over how to respond to it.

If it didn't matter, why do you think somebody spent a lot of time doing it?

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#12

Post by dang »

make3 wrote: post #4
dangrossman wrote: post #3

I got a bunch of emails from senators thanking me for contacting them this week... before I had contacted any of them. Who knows what was said in my name.

Thanks

Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to Hacker News?

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#14

Post by dingo_bat »

IncRnd wrote: post #8

I'm glad that this is being brought up. However, duplicated comments are not necessarily faked. For instance, there are many times centralized campaigns that people can sign onto for sending messages. The messages from those, while identical, are proper and what the individuals believe. This happens on both sides of issues. So, please continue to investigate, but be careful you don't interject your own biases into yo…

> be careful you don't interject your own biases into your investigation.

That ship has sailed a long time ago.

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#16

Post by viraptor »

wpietri wrote: post #11
Natsu wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it really matter? This wasn't a vote and they weren't listening to our opinions anyhow, this was just some jerk spamming a comment box. What really matters is that they're on the site of the ISPs that want to screw us all over. I still remember the very start of net neutrality when everyone was still on the same side, before the lobbyists went to work dividing us over how to respond to it.

If it didn't matter, why do you think somebody spent a lot of time doing it?

I don't know if it mattered, but the comments as shown in the article are pretty much the same copy with various simple replacements for many phrases. This happens in lots of spam campaigns. I'm not sure anyone spent much time doing it - could be few hours for someone who does spam already. It doesn't look like a sophisticated or costly action.

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#17

Post by brudgers »

everdev wrote: post #2

Just like the election, I wonder if the people behind this care if they get caught as long as they get what they want first. There doesn't seem to be much precedent for overturning laws or elections that were subject to misinformation campaigns.

[I am not a lawyer]

Only Congress passes laws (statutes). The FCC is a regulatory body. It has statutory authority (delegated by Congress) to create regulations, not statutes (laws). Proposed FCC regulations have to go through a process defined by statute. Publication and comment are part of that process. Irregularities in the process may form the basis of judicial challenge. Whether what is described here constitutes an irregularity is another matter.

Regulations may have the force of a law, but don't receive the same level of judicial deference in terms of intent. If Congress were to a law to explicitly end net neutrality, the courts would have to assume that the law is the will of the people and a challenge could only be made on Constitutional grounds. An FCC regulation can also be challenged on legal grounds (the regulation violates a statute).

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#18

Post by torpfactory »

adamnemecek wrote: post #7

What needs to happen for shit like this not to happen anymore.

Get money out of politics. No more superPACs. No more third party bullshit.

My proposal: only contributions from individuals to official campaign organizations. Each person can donate a total of $100, split any way they want.

I’m tired of so many decisions being made at the behest of some campaign funder whispering in a politician’s ear. Our democracy is being corroded by all this money.

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#19

Post by viraptor »

dingo_bat wrote: post #13

FCC has explicitly said that they have ignored any opinion comments. They have only considered comments which bring new facts or a legal opinion. So the fact that many comments were faked is irrelevant anyway.

I assume that would be the case, but looking from outside it's hard to know what did they actually look at. They could gain a lot more confidence from the public if they marked ignored comments as ignored. It would both avoid this discussion and allow people to read the actually interesting content that is going to influence the result.

Re: More Than a Million Pro-Repeal Net Neutrality Comments Were Likely Faked

#20

Post by frik »

everdev wrote: post #2

Just like the election, I wonder if the people behind this care if they get caught as long as they get what they want first. There doesn't seem to be much precedent for overturning laws or elections that were subject to misinformation campaigns.

They are not individuals, but bots by companies. You just have to look at the bots that write pro-comments on HN, Reddit, etc. Think about, who has advantage from it?
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