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Attorneys general request last-minute delay for net neutrality vote
The FCC's controversial vote on net neutrality protections is scheduled to take place tomorrow, and as we get down to the wire, opposition to the proposal hasn't slowed. Today, 18 state attorneys general sent a letter to the FCC asking for the commission to delay the vote, The Verge reports. Their plea centers on evidence that fake comments that used real individuals' names were submitted during the FCC's public comment period. "A careful review of the publicly available information revealed a pattern of fake submissions using the names of real people. In fact, there may be over one million fake submissions from across the country," they wrote. "This is akin to identity theft on a massive scale – and theft of someone's voice in a democracy is particularly concerning."
The Internet Association asks FCC to delay its net neutrality vote
The Internet Association, whose members include Amazon, Netflix and Uber, sent a letter to the FCC today requesting that the commission either delay its upcoming vote on the proposal to remove net neutrality protections or vote against it, Reuters reports. "This draft order ignores the wishes of tens of millions of Americans who, like us, have voiced their support for the 2015 Open Internet Order," Internet Association CEO Michael Beckerman said in the letter. "IA and its members will continue our fight to preserve the 2015 Order and its strong, enforceable net neutrality protections."
Senators ask the FCC to delay its net neutrality vote (updated)
A group of senators has sent a letter to the FCC asking the commission to delay its December 14th vote on proposed net neutrality protection rollbacks, The Hill reports. Led by Senator Maggie Hassan, 28 senators signed the letter, which pointed to evidence that the proposal's public comments were rife with fraudulent posts. "A free and open internet is vital to ensuring a level playing field online, and we believe that your proposed action may be based on an incomplete understanding of the public record in this proceeding," they wrote. "In fact, there is good reason to believe that the record may be replete with fake or fraudulent comments, suggesting that your proposal is fundamentally flawed."
New Yorkers can report identities used in fake net neutrality comments
Last week, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman posted an open letter that blasted the FCC for refusing to investigate the allegedly fake anti-net neutrality responses to the agency's public comment portal. Now Schneideman is taking matters into his own hands with a new web portal for New Yorkers to check and see if their identities were used without consent, then report to the Attorney General's office if they were.
Over half of FCC net neutrality comments may be fake, study says
The FCC's proposal to roll back net neutrality protections was up for public comment between April 27th and August 30th and while nearly 22 million comments were submitted, there's been a bit of discussion surrounding who or what registered those comments and how accurately they reflect the public opinion of the plan. The Pew Research Center looked into those millions of comments and it published its findings today. Overall, the center found that very few comments were unique, more than half came from temporary or duplicate email addresses and on multiple occasions, tens of thousands of comments were filed at the exact same time, suggesting use of bot campaigns.
Uber and Lyft may not have to fingerprint drivers in California
Ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft have had some issues with driver background checks over the years. More than 8,000 drivers from both companies failed checks in Massachusetts this year, while Uber was reported to have missed criminal records as far back as 2015. Uber was sued in California over misleading statements around rider safety last year, and both companies promised to leave Austin if fingerprint checks were required. This week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the ride-hailing services would avoid fingerprint checks in California. Instead, the California Public Utilities Commission proposed that Uber and Lyft would instead have to ensure that background checks are done by an accredited vendor on an annual basis.
FCC extends net neutrality public comment period until August 30th
It hasn't been too long since individuals and companies protested the FCC's plan to gut net neutrality with a national Day of Action. It's such a hot button issue, that net neutrality supporters basically crippled the FCC website for public comment after HBO's John Oliver sent fans to register their own complaints (even though the FCC claims it was a DDoS attack, but won't share any details). With all this fooferah, it's not super surprising that the FCC has extended the comment period by two weeks, to end on August 30th.
FCC opens floor for public comment on AT&T / T-Mobile deal
Since the world's engineers haven't yet come up with a way to read minds over the internet (or at all, last we checked), we're not sure what you think about the proposed marriage of T-Mobile to AT&T. We're pretty sure you do have an opinion of some sort, though, and if you want it to be heard, now's the opportunity to let the Federal Communications Commission read your thoughtful, reasoned take on how a GSM monopoly in the United States might or might not work. (Speak now or forever hold your peace, in other words.) To comment, simply visit the source links below, where the FCC has some handy forms -- one for short comments, one for long comments (where you have to attach a PDF document) and one with the magic number of the related proceeding, which is 11-65. Let 'em know just how you'll be impacted if the deal goes through, for better or for worse. [Thanks, Jeff]
