Net Neutrality Fraud Probe Moves Forward: NY AG

The Federal Communications Commission may cooperate with New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman's investigation into 1 million fake comments that he says corrupted the FCC's public comment process on ending net neutrality. Schneiderman and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel called Monday for the FCC’s planned Dec. 14 vote on net neutrality to be halted until a probe into allegations of deliberate service attacks, Russian intervention and massive ID theft is complete.

“The FCC is on course to eliminate net neutrality guided by a record corrupted by hundreds of thousands of filings with stolen identities, close to half a million comments from Russian e-mail addresses, and an alleged distributed denial of service attack,” said Rosenworcel, speaking at a press briefing with Schneiderman. “This is unacceptable. The integrity of the public record matters. The FCC needs to get to the bottom of this mess. No vote should take place until a responsible investigation is complete.”

Check if your identity was stolen for a comment on net neutrality: ag.ny.gov/FakeComments

In a Nov. 21 open letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, Schneiderman said his office has – for six months – been investigating the submission of enormous numbers of fake comments on the possible repeal of neutrality rules, which used real Americans’ identities. An updated analysis by the Attorney General’s office found that approximately 1 million of these comments may have misused the real names and addresses of Americans – including tens of thousands of New Yorkers.

Before releasing the open letter, officials in the Attorney General’s office said they had contacted the FCC and its top officials at least nine times for help with the investigation.

They said the FCC and the FCC Inspector General’s office had been unwilling to provide records necessary to investigate who may be behind the misused identities.

That, they said, was a departure from past practice, where the FCC has cooperated with the Attorney General’s office on confidential investigations into practices that harmed New Yorkers and residents of other states.

However, earlier Monday, the FCC’s Inspector General’s office reversed course, indicating that it will assist with the Attorney General’s investigation, Schneiderman said.

Last week the AG's Office launched a new webpage for New Yorkers to check whether their identities were wrongfully used without their consent. In the last five days alone, over 3,200 people have reported misused identities to the Attorney General’s office, including nearly 350 New Yorkers from across the state, Schneiderman said.

PHOTO via Attorney General's Office

SEE ALSO: Massive Scheme Corrupts FCC Plan to End Net Neutrality: NY AG