By Emily Birnbaum, thehill.com, 12-5-18
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai is acknowledging that Russia-linked email addresses weighed in during the public comment process ahead of the FCC’s net neutrality repeal last year.
Pai said in a statement this week that it is a “fact” that a half-million comments were submitted from Russian email addresses during the public comment period, adding that most of those comments were in favor of net neutrality.
The FCC’s public comment process around net neutrality was mired in controversy in 2017, with lawmakers and companies on both sides of the issue arguing that a deluge of fake comments undermined the legitimacy of the process.
Pai’s comments came as part of a memorandum opinion released by the FCC amid a lawsuit from the New York Times. The Times and BuzzFeed News are seeking access to internal information about the millions of fake comments, while the Commission argues that releasing that information will leave the U.S. vulnerable to possible cyber attacks. » Read More