SecureWorld News

Millions of Stolen Identities 'Commented' to the FCC on Net Neutrality

Written by SecureWorld News Team | Thu | May 24, 2018 | 6:05 PM Z

Here are two new twists to come up regarding the FCC's decision to relax Net Neutrality requirements.

  1. Millions of fake comments: We've reported previously that the FCC was looking into "fake" comments, but now we know how bad it was. Nearly 2 million comments on Net Neutrality were bogus, with many or most posted by bots.
  2. Two U.S. Senators were among this group of bogus comments:

"Late last year, the identities of as many as two million Americans were stolen and used to file fake comments during the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) comment period for the net neutrality rule. We were among those whose identities were misused to express viewpoints we do not hold."

That is one section of a letter from Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Pat Toomey (R-PA), who say their identities were lifted and used to comment against their own views on the Net Neutrality debate.

The Senators are encouraging the agency to consider using CAPTCHA technology to help weed out comments posted by bots.

It's hard to believe that is not being used already.