What you need to know
New York Attorney General says millions of comments to FCC proceeding on net neutrality were fake.
Broadband companies initiated the campaign to generate fake comments.
Three firms that help generate comments were charged $4.9 million.
The nation s largest broadband companies, which includes some of the best wireless carriers in the U.S., funded a secret campaign to generate millions of fake comments to the Federal Communications Commission during its repeal of net neutrality rules in 2017, according to the New York Attorney General s office (NYAGO).
The investigation, which was released today, indicated that many of the comments provided cover for the repeal of the rules. The investigation indicated that the broadband companies engaged commercial lead generators that would use prizes, like gift cards or sweepstakes, to lure consumers to their websites and join the campaign.
By Dave Smith
May 6, 2021
Albany, N.Y. - New York Attorney General Letitia James is taking action in a RoboCall scheme to scare Blacks away from polls in 2020.
AG James says New York is joining existing legal actions against two people, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman.
They formed a sham organization called “Project 1599 that violated state and federal laws by orchestrating robocalls harassing Black voters.
It s believed 5500 New Yorkers received calls falsely claiming that mail-in voters would have their personal information released to law enforcement, debt collectors, and the Government.
A text of the automated recording reads:
“
Hi, this is Tamika Taylor from Project 1599, the civil rights organization founded by Jack Burman and Jacob Wohl. Mail-in voting sounds great, but did you know that if you vote by mail, your personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card comp
These lead generation companies used various deceptive techniques to capture people s personal information and entice them to submit it, like websites offering gift cards and other incentives. The websites were interleaved with forms to submit comments to the FCC in a way that was generally done without consent.
The broadband companies that, through their lobbying group, Broadband for America, hired these firms, however, are not being penalized. The OAG has not found evidence, however, that the broadband companies that funded and organized these lead generators had direct knowledge of fraud, the report says.
Nonetheless, the report says the conduct of the broadband companies and their lobbying firm is troubling. It notes that the broadband companies campaign organizers ignored several significant red flags as to the authenticity of the comments, and it calls out the lack of oversight of these lead generation companies.