FBI! OPEN UP! - US Department of Justice begins investigation into the FCC

[rcmaehl]

Sources:
Buzzfeed
The Verge

Summary:

The federal government is now looking into faked comments posted to the FCC’s website to determine if those comments violated the law by essentially using stolen identities, and has issued subpoenas to a handful of organizations related to the comments.

Media:

 

Quotes/Excerpts:

Quote

The Justice Department is investigating whether crimes were committed when potentially millions of people’s identities were posted to the FCC’s website without their permission. The comment scheme took place over the course of months beginning in April 2017...after the... [move] to overturn Obama-era rules enforcing net neutrality. The rule enjoyed broad public support...and required a period of public comment. More than 20 million comments have since appeared on the site. [T]he New York Attorney General’s office estimating that up to 9.5 million of those were filed in people’s names without their consent. [T]he New York Attorney General’s previously announced investigation, the agency in October issued subpoenas to 14 organizations. The offices of the attorneys general of both Massachusetts and Washington, DC, are supporting the New York investigation, and also issued subpoenas. The federal subpoenas arrived a few days after the state ones. The size of the federal investigation is unclear: Other organizations that had received subpoenas from the state attorneys general offices didn’t respond to requests for comment. The DC attorney general and the FBI did not reply to requests for comment.

 

My Thoughts:
With how sloppily copy-pasted the fake comments were and the fact this was a government entity, I am glad that the FBI is investigating this and I'm sure many many other people are as well. Hopefully, how well the perpetrators hid their involvement is just as sloppy.

[Deus Voltage]

They had it coming. I hope they put Ajit Pai in jail for a long time (though it's very unlikely to happen).

[archbtw]

Do it, they even had some dead supporters apparently. If it's not a law it damn well should be, the FCC can burn,

[BananaInSandals]

Yeah... They'll probably find some junior staff from some random telecom company or "research group" and sacrifice them. Then blame the whole thing on Russia or China knowing that those two countries won't admit nor deny shit. Won't hold my hope up for anything.

[TetraSky]

About time they investigate this.
It was obvious that Ajit Pai completely disregarded the comments, claiming they were fake, just to push his agenda.
Though I honestly doubt anything will happen. They will look at it, give Pai a slap on the wrist and move on.

[captain_to_fire]

1 hour ago, rcmaehl said:

Buzzfeed

Ew

[captain_to_fire]

42 minutes ago, Deus Voltage said:

Ajit Pai in jail for a long time (though it's very unlikely to happen).

Someone take his big ass Reese's Peanut Butter mug first.

[rcmaehl]

6 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

Someone take his big ass Reese's Peanut Butter mug first.

Jesus that's a big mug....

[BananaInSandals]

7 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

Someone take his big ass Reese's Peanut Butter mug first.

Jeez... That's as big as my bowl. How does he drink from that without spilling all over his face and shirt?

[Jito463]

20 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

Someone take his big a** Reese's Peanut Butter mug first.

 

Spoiler

 

Now THAT is a coffee mug.

 

And to those of you pining for Pai to be thrown in jail, that's some serious conclusion jumping there.

 

You're assuming that he had anything to do with those comments.  In fact, you're assuming the AG of NY even has merit to his case.  Why not wait and see what comes of the investigation, first?

[Guest]

35 minutes ago, captain_to_fire said:

Someone take his big ass Reese's Peanut Butter mug first.

i'm jealous, i want one rn

[PlayStation 2]

I see we've already jumped on the "shit pie" bandwagon rather than, I dunno, reading into the fucking investigation.

[Commodus]

19 minutes ago, Jito463 said:

Now THAT is a coffee mug.

 

And to those of you pining for Pai to be thrown in jail, that's some serious conclusion jumping there.

 

You're assuming that he had anything to do with those comments.  In fact, you're assuming the AG of NY even has merit to his case.  Why not wait and see what comes of the investigation, first?

From what little we've seen, it looks like it could be Russians, US telecoms orchestrating an astroturf campaign or a combination of both.  Pai wouldn't be on the hook unless there was evidence he orchestrated some of the fake comments, and I'm not sure he did even though he knowingly ignored the problem.

 

I mean, in a just universe Pai would spend the rest of his life in prison on corruption charges, but it probably wouldn't be for this.

[mxk]

ajit pai is a shit head. I hope the FBI finds some juicy shit

[handymanshandle]

1 minute ago, mxk. said:

ajit pai is a shit head. I hope the FBI finds some juicy shit

Good job, constructive comment 

[Nicnac]

Actual Footage:

[Sakkura]

1 hour ago, Jito463 said:

Now THAT is a coffee mug.

And to those of you pining for Pai to be thrown in jail, that's some serious conclusion jumping there.

Spoiler

 

 

You're assuming that he had anything to do with those comments.  In fact, you're assuming the AG of NY even has merit to his case.  Why not wait and see what comes of the investigation, first?

There's plenty of merit to the case. Some folks with insight into the situation have acknowledged the widespread fake comments.

 

You know, like some guy called Ajit Pai.

 

http://fortune.com/2018/12/05/fcc-fraud-comments-chair-admits/

 

Quote

FCC Chair Ajit Pai admitted in a commission statement Dec. 3 that fraudulent comments in the millions, including “half-million submitted from Russian e-mail addresses,” were made in a public process prior to the commission’s allegedly foregone decision to reverse net-neutrality policies set in the Obama Administration.

 

And there's plenty of other evidence.

 

Quote

As many as 2 million identities were stolen to leave fake comments in support of the FCC's decision to kill net neutrality, according to the New York Attorney General's Office. Based on the 5,000 or so complaints filed with the office, some of the victims are senior citizens, some are minors, while some are already dead. "This is a 13 year old child -- she did not post this comment, nor did anyone else in her household," a report filed by a New Yorker said. A Chicago resident who also filed a complaint called the fake comment made under their mother's name "sickening." Their mother passed away several years ago from cancer.

 

https://www.engadget.com/2017/12/14/fake-net-neutrality-comments-stolen-identities/

 

All that said, you're right that we shouldn't jump to the conclusion that Pai himself will be charged.

[DutchTexan]

3 hours ago, rcmaehl said:

Sources:
Buzzfeed
The Verge

[Sir Asvald]

18 minutes ago, Nicnac said:

Actual Footage:

You see that vase? It represents his mug.

[yolosnail]

12 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

There's plenty of merit to the case. Some folks with insight into the situation have acknowledged the widespread fake comments.

 

You know, like some guy called Ajit Pai.

 

http://fortune.com/2018/12/05/fcc-fraud-comments-chair-admits/

 

 

And there's plenty of other evidence.

 

 

https://www.engadget.com/2017/12/14/fake-net-neutrality-comments-stolen-identities/

 

All that said, you're right that we shouldn't jump to the conclusion that Pai himself will be charged.

Ajit Pai may be an idiot, but he certainly isn't stupid. There is no way he got even a spec of dirt on his hands. 

[Nowak]

3 hours ago, rcmaehl said:

The federal government is now looking into faked comments posted to the FCC’s website to determine if those comments violated the law by essentially using stolen identities, and has issued subpoenas to a handful of organizations related to the comments.

Yeah. That much is obvious to anyone who isn't a corporate apologist.

 

I mean, here we have two separate comments from "Barack Obama" calling his own administration's move "unprecedented regulatory power". Gee, I wonder.

[GilmourD]

2 hours ago, captain_to_fire said:

Someone take his big ass Reese's Peanut Butter mug first.

Is that real?

[samcool55]

36 minutes ago, GilmourD said:

Is that real?

Sadly, yes, it's real.

Around 7:30

[Guest]

No more russian bots, but now american bots lol. Who are they going to blame next? Its never their own fault. 

[kuhnertdm]

This will only really have a good effect if they determine that somehow the FCC did it themselves. If they didn't, then it basically comes down to "Well, we'll eventually find whoever did it", and in the meantime, the decision has already been made.