Verizon and the Death of the Internet

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"Under the agency's proposal, providers of high-speed Internet services, such as Comcast, Verizon and AT&T, would be able to block websites they do not like and charge Web companies for speedier delivery of their content.

"The FCC's effort would roll back its net neutrality regulation which was passed by the agency's Democrats in 2015 and attempted to make sure all Web content, whether from big or small companies, would be treated equally by Internet providers.

• End Title II protections and erase the three Net Neutrality rules passed at the FCC in 2015 and upheld in court last year.
  
  
• Legalize internet blocking and discrimination by Comcast, AT&T and Verizon, no questions asked.
  
  
• Permit throttling back the speeds of different kinds of websites and apps.
  
  
• Encourage paid prioritization -- sticking most sites and apps in the slow lane and reserving the fast lane for the few wealthy companies that can afford special treatment.

"In April 2017, the FCC announced that it would issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning repeal of its existing net neutrality rules. Federal law requires the FCC and all federal agencies to take public comments on proposed rules into account -- so it is important that the public comment process actually enable the voices of the millions of individuals and businesses who will be affected to be heard. That's important no matter one's position on net neutrality, environmental rules, and so many other areas in which federal agencies regulate.

"In May 2017, researchers and reporters discovered that the FCC's public comment process was being corrupted by the submission of enormous numbers of fake comments concerning the possible repeal of net neutrality rules. In doing so, the perpetrator or perpetrators attacked what is supposed to be an open public process by attempting to drown out and negate the views of the real people, businesses, and others who honestly commented on this important issue. Worse, while some of these fake comments used made-up names and addresses, many misused the real names and addresses of actual people as part of the effort to undermine the integrity of the comment process. That's akin to identity theft, and it happened on a massive scale.

"My office analyzed the fake comments and found that tens of thousands of New Yorkers may have had their identities misused in this way. (Indeed, analysis showed that, in all, hundreds of thousands of Americans likely were victimized in the same way, including tens of thousands per state in California, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and possibly others.) Impersonation and other misuse of a person's identity violates New York law, so my office launched an investigation.

"Successfully investigating this sort of illegal conduct requires the participation of the agency whose system was attacked. So in June 2017, we contacted the FCC to request certain records related to its public comment system that were necessary to investigate which bad actor or actors were behind the misconduct. We made our request for logs and other records at least nine times over five months: in June, July, August, September, October (three times), and November.

"We reached out for assistance to multiple top FCC officials, including you, three successive acting FCC General Counsels, and the FCC's Inspector General. We offered to keep the requested records confidential, as we had done when my office and the FCC shared information and documents as part of past investigative work.

"Yet we have received no substantive response to our investigative requests. None."

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