Two Senators Say Their Identities Were Stolen During Net Neutrality Repeal

Two Senators Say Their Identities Were Stolen During Net Neutrality Repeal

6 years ago
Anonymous $CLwNLde341

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8xeqqz/two-senators-say-their-identities-were-stolen-during-net-neutrality-repeal

Two lawmakers say they were among those who had their identities hijacked as part of a rash of bogus comments posted to the FCC’s website during the public comment period of last’ year’s repeal. The duo have demanded the FCC take steps to identify the culprit and prevent it from occurring during future proceedings. Throughout 2017, an unidentified culprit easily abused a lack of basic protections at the FCC website to flood the net neutrality proceeding with fake comments. In some instances the scammers used the identities of real people (like myself) to support the unpopular effort. In other instances, the names of dead people were hijacked for the same purpose.

Thus far, the agency has proven entirely apathetic to the problems created by the fraudulent behavior. In a letter sent to the FCC this week, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Pat Toomey (R-PA) stated that they were among those that had their identities stolen in this fashion, and urged the FCC to “identify and address fraudulent behavior” that led to more than 2 million such bogus comments being filed during the repeal.