The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) will investigate the use of impersonation in public comments on the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality repeal.
Congressional Democrats requested the investigation last month, and the GAO has granted the request.
While the investigation request was spurred by widespread fraud in the FCC's net neutrality repeal docket, Democrats asked the GAO to also "examine whether this shady practice extends to other agency rulemaking processes." The GAO will do just that, having told Democrats in a letter that it will "review the extent and pervasiveness of fraud and the misuse of American identities during federal rulemaking processes."
U.S. Internet Provider Refuses to Expose Alleged Pirates | TorrentFreak - 1 views
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" Ernesto on September 9, 2014 C: 16 Breaking Rightscorp, a prominent piracy monitoring firm that works with Warner Bros. and other copyright holders, wants Grande Communications to reveal the identities alleged pirates linked to 30,000 IP-addresses/timestamp combinations. Unlike other providers the Texas ISP refused to give in easily, instead deciding to fight the request in court." [ ...DMCA subpoenas are not allowed in file-sharing cases...]
Cox Refuses to Spy on Subscribers to Catch Pirates - TorrentFreak [# ! Note] - 0 views
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" Ernesto on February 15, 2016 C: 70 Breaking Cox Communications is objecting to a broad permanent injunction requested by music publisher BMG. The music group wants the ISP to spy on its subscribers and take action against those who download pirated material. Cox informs the court that these demands are overbroad, vague and possibly illegal."
Parallel Conduct: How ISPs Make The Consolidated Internet Service Market Even Worse | T... - 0 views
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"These companies don't have to agree in writing to carry this out or even raise their prices; they can simply, within their separate geographic and product territories, bundle and tie their services, buy up inputs that a competitor might need, and refuse to connect to competitors - among many other potential tactics. It's in their interest for these local monopolists to cooperate, because any defection would make the whole system crumble."
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"These companies don't have to agree in writing to carry this out or even raise their prices; they can simply, within their separate geographic and product territories, bundle and tie their services, buy up inputs that a competitor might need, and refuse to connect to competitors - among many other potential tactics. It's in their interest for these local monopolists to cooperate, because any defection would make the whole system crumble."
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"These companies don't have to agree in writing to carry this out or even raise their prices; they can simply, within their separate geographic and product territories, bundle and tie their services, buy up inputs that a competitor might need, and refuse to connect to competitors - among many other potential tactics. It's in their interest for these local monopolists to cooperate, because any defection would make the whole system crumble."
Australian ISP Rejects 'Pirate Site' Blocking Attempt - TorrentFreak - 0 views
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" Ernesto on November 20, 2015 C: 19 Breaking A small Australian Internet provider is refusing to block a website that allegedly infringes on the copyrights of a local construction company. Lawyers demanded a blockade citing Australia's new anti-piracy legislation, but the ISP believes that it's an attempt to bypass a law which is already flawed."
Small ISP stands up to Rightscorp's "piracy fishing expedition" and wins | Ars Technica - 0 views
Net neutrality comment fraud will be investigated by government | Ars Technica - 0 views
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The GAO provides independent, nonpartisan audits and investigations for Congress. The GAO previously agreed to investigate DDoS attacks that allegedly targeted the FCC comment system, also in response to a request by Democratic lawmakers. The Democrats charged that Chairman Ajit Pai's FCC did not provide enough evidence that the attacks actually happened, and they asked the GAO to find out what evidence the FCC used to make its determination. Democrats also asked the GAO to examine whether the FCC is prepared to prevent future attacks. The DDoS investigation should happen sooner than the new one on comment fraud because the GAO accepted that request in October.
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The FCC's net neutrality repeal received more than 22 million comments, but millions were apparently submitted by bots and falsely attributed to real Americans (including some dead ones) who didn't actually submit comments. Various analyses confirmed the widespread spam and fraud; one analysis found that 98.5 percent of unique comments opposed the repeal plan.
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