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Concerns Over Fake Comments on FCC Net Neutrality
WNEP-16 ^ | 14 December 2017 | Dave Bohman

Posted on 12/15/2017 6:39:39 AM PST by Erik Latranyi

WILKES-BARRE -- For the past few months, the Federal Communications Commission asked for comments from the public on whether it should end net neutrality. Thousands of comments came from people in northeastern and central Pennsylvania. But it appears many, if not most of these comments, are fake.

We called 12 people whose names were listed as making comments with the FCC and none of them said they even contacted the agency. That includes a woman from Wilkes-Barre who admits she doesn't even know what the FCC does. The Christmas spirit runs through the home of Darlene Mapes in Wilkes-Barre, but her smile goes away when she learns her name is on a government document to the federal communications commission.

"I never did that," Mapes said.

But FCC files show that in August, Mapes wrote, "the Obama-era FCC regulations (known as net neutrality) enable the federal government to exert an unnecessary amount of regulatory control of the internet."

The FCC file shows Mapes writing, "I support Chairman Pai's proposal."

"I don't know a Chairman Pai," she said.

The FCC lists more than 500 people from Dunmore as commenting on net neutrality, including former borough council member Paul Nardozzi. He believes most of his neighbors on the list did not contact the agency.

"If they can use my name and have my address idiotic as that, God only knows what someone else could use your name for," Nardozzi said.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro believes so many fake comments hurt people who opposed the FCC. He wants to see a federal investigation into how the names of so many people were used without their knowledge.

"Approximately one million fake accounts were created, and really it influenced their decision to gut net neutrality," Shapiro said.

Darlene Mapes hopes the new rules don't slow down her internet which she only uses to play games. And she's still concerned about her name being listed on a government document taking a stand on an issue she knows nothing about.

"They don't have a right to use my name." You may be concerned that your name is connected to a comment with the FCC and there's an easy way to find out. The attorney general's office has set up a web page where you can check to see if a fake comment has been made in your name.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: fake; fcc; internet; netneutrality
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It seems only support of this was faked.....or that is the fake comments that are being touted by the media.

Our side does not do this.

1 posted on 12/15/2017 6:39:39 AM PST by Erik Latranyi
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To: Erik Latranyi

The government also wants to store a sample of your DNA because it might never be misused in a crime scene.


2 posted on 12/15/2017 6:40:22 AM PST by Erik Latranyi (The largest and most dangerous hate-group in the US is now the Democratic Party)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Algore didn’t invent the Internet but Trump reinvented it. Hah!


3 posted on 12/15/2017 6:46:38 AM PST by Lisbon1940 (No full-term Governors (at the time of election!)
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To: Erik Latranyi

What I read was just the opposite. Something like 7,000,000 fake comments were recorded, all in favor of keeping net neutrality.

50,000 of them were the same email address and most originated from Russia. Hey Mueller, go investigate that collusion.


4 posted on 12/15/2017 6:46:43 AM PST by cyclotic (Trump tweets are the only news source you can trust.)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Maybe public comment needs to be restricted to signed snail mail.


5 posted on 12/15/2017 6:47:25 AM PST by cyclotic (Trump tweets are the only news source you can trust.)
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To: Erik Latranyi

Bots. Most ad hits are bots. Most twitter storms are not. Professional slimers set up hundreds of fake accounts as a vehicle to attack whoever they are paid to destroy. People need to wise up and stop paying attention to internet crazes. Its mostly total BS.


6 posted on 12/15/2017 6:49:44 AM PST by Seruzawa (TANSTAAFL!)
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To: Erik Latranyi

The short list of NetNeutrality supporters:

1) People who don’t know what Net Neutrality is
2) Socialists
3) People who want their neighbors to pay for their 24hr-a-day Netflix habit
4) Twitter bots
5) Countries who hate the US & want to ensure it loses its technology edge


7 posted on 12/15/2017 6:51:07 AM PST by COBOL2Java (John McCain treats GOP voters like he treated his first wife)
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To: Erik Latranyi

How did the media sift out these fake comments from the thousands. The media is too lazy to do this kind of work. Answer; the comments are planted fakes by an anti-Trump group and the media was directed to them. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if the group setup the whole “news” package and dropped it in the media’s lap. The media is both lazy and complicit in anything anti-Trump.


8 posted on 12/15/2017 7:02:43 AM PST by Flick Lives (The FBI is a corrupt partisan organization.)
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To: Erik Latranyi

The amount of propaganda for NN just shows how desperate the left is to get their grubbly hands on internet freedom.

9 posted on 12/15/2017 7:05:20 AM PST by Nateman (The louder the left screams , the better it is for America!)
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To: Erik Latranyi

The media is so full of lies. Weeks ago I read about millions of fake comments from the pro net neutrality side. The media ignored it. Now that they’ve lost the media is focusing like a laser on the anti side.


10 posted on 12/15/2017 7:06:38 AM PST by montag813
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To: cyclotic

Would not be surprised to find Fusion GPS fingerprints on this.


11 posted on 12/15/2017 7:07:24 AM PST by Rebelbase (The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.-- H.L. Mencken)
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To: Erik Latranyi

I was an attorney at the FCC right out of law school for a few months. Trust me when I say that the FCC did not pay one iota of attention to the comments that came in from the general public, whether it was one, ten, or 2,000,000.


12 posted on 12/15/2017 7:17:17 AM PST by pinkandgreenmom
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To: COBOL2Java; All

“3) People who want their neighbors to pay for their 24hr-a-day Netflix habit”

That’s a very simplistic view. Companies like Comcast sell high profit TV services. They have an extreme vested interest in killing companies selling entertainment over IP. Without meaningful competition in many areas, without some type of enforcement they’re likely to do as they have done, and degrade or block access to competitors. AT&T is said to be rolling out an à la carte Internet TV service next year. We’ll see how that goes...

I’m not in favor of treating ISPs as utilities circa 1930, but when I pay for Internet service, I expect the best possible unfiltered access to whichever site I access. Without some type of formal guarantee, there’s nothing to stop Comcast or AT&T from (for instance) blocking or degrading conservative sites. How would you feel about that?

If we can get to the point where there are multiple real ISPs (not recycled cable TV companies) for most locations, that would help a lot. I’m also looking forward to the SpaceX satellite constellation making first-rate, low-latency service available everywhere, especially rural areas.


13 posted on 12/15/2017 7:29:00 AM PST by PreciousLiberty (Make America Greater Than Ever!)
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To: pinkandgreenmom

You are correct. The CTH had an excellent article and full transcript of the FCC Chairman’s comments (which is a great explanation of why Net Neutrality needed to be stopped). Here’s the link:

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/12/14/fcc-overturns-fallacy-of-net-neutrality-trump-administration-returns-freedom-to-the-internet/


14 posted on 12/15/2017 7:32:53 AM PST by Cedar
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To: PreciousLiberty
I’m not in favor of treating ISPs as utilities circa 1930, but when I pay for Internet service, I expect the best possible unfiltered access to whichever site I access. Without some type of formal guarantee, there’s nothing to stop Comcast or AT&T from (for instance) blocking or degrading conservative sites. How would you feel about that?

How do you feel about some unelected, un-fireable bureaucrat at the FCC ordering ISP providers to throttle down Free Republic's packet transmissions because it doesn't produce the "correct" type of content? You DO realize that "Net Neutrality" is the exact opposite of what the title says, don't you?

Sorry, I don't want Washington DC given power over the internet. Things worked just fine before 2015, thank you.

15 posted on 12/15/2017 7:38:21 AM PST by COBOL2Java (John McCain treats GOP voters like he treated his first wife)
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To: COBOL2Java

Agreed 100%.

As a shortcut, all you need to do is look at the people who support it in government to know you should be against it.


16 posted on 12/15/2017 7:41:59 AM PST by rlmorel (Liberals: American Liberty is the egg that requires breaking to make their Utopian omelette.)
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To: rlmorel
Absolutely. And it saddens me to see that there are Freepers who actually are FOR Net Neutrality!


17 posted on 12/15/2017 7:45:55 AM PST by COBOL2Java (John McCain treats GOP voters like he treated his first wife)
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To: rlmorel

Always do the opposite of what Chuck Schumer says is a good rule for life.


18 posted on 12/15/2017 7:49:57 AM PST by proust (Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.)
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To: COBOL2Java
I see two separate components to this, one is the obvious one that we as conservatives should all agree on, the likelihood of government meddling in the intellectual content of the Internet, and the other is the economic meddling that occurs when government socialists and bureaucrats want to control how something is priced and delivered. For me, I tend to ignore discussion of government meddling in the intellectual content of the Internet, simply because it is a given to me. It is a slam dunk, and if anyone can't see that as prima fascie justification for rejecting outright government control, then I won't be able to convince them.

However, it is the market forces aspect of it that I think is ignored, but to me as a consumer, is very important. (and this is the part that is completely rejected and ignored by leftists and ignorant people (not ignorant in the pejorative sense) in this.

I wrote this in a thread yesterday on this:
*************************************************

The problem here is that this is a thing that people think they should have at gigabit speed all the time, everywhere, and they don’t care how it gets there.

I look at this and ask: Who is going to pay to upgrade the infrastructure to faster speeds? Who is going to pay to extend the infrastructure into markets who don’t have as much of it? Who is going to pay to support that infrastructure, the people, the utility trucks, the repair equipment, the office buildings, the 24x7 coverage.

Market forces drive prices down and performance and availability up. The capitalist impulse to create wealth (real wealth, not frikking tax dollars taken from people like you and me) is what will drive that most efficiently and expeditiously.

And the problem is, those forces are largely invisible (especially to leftists, who REFUSE to believe in the invisible hand of market forces that control how much of something is available and how much people are willing to pay for it) so the end result is, many people don’t care, even many here on FR (sadly). Someone else can pay for it. Who has the big pockets, the money that can be ‘freely’ applied?

What does that sound like? It sounds like the people who think the government can pay for it, and the government can regulate it. And when you look at the people who are lickety-split for this, they are the same people who view everything else in this same manner. People who worship government because they think it will provide this thing for them.

19 posted on 12/15/2017 7:58:25 AM PST by rlmorel (Liberals: American Liberty is the egg that requires breaking to make their Utopian omelette.)
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To: proust

I have reached the point where is anyone with a “D” after their name approves of something, I look at it with a very jaundiced eye.


20 posted on 12/15/2017 7:59:17 AM PST by rlmorel (Liberals: American Liberty is the egg that requires breaking to make their Utopian omelette.)
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