I remember that there were websites that allowed users to comment on NN that had pre-made comments already completed. The user only needed to enter a valid email address and could then forward the comment to the FCC or erase and put in their comment in their own words. I could see how this would look like obvious spam if users did not take the time to modify the form into their own thoughts. This shall be very interesting indeed. Pass the popcorn.
Which doesn't make much sense, because the arguments are used in the decision making process, not the number of comments. This wasn't some kind of vote where you could stuff the ballot box, this was somewhere that you could flag items of concern.
We all know that anyone could fake an IP address, as well. It would take little thought to spam a bunch of nonsense through a random proxy via a script. But, just like every other kind of spam, it would just get ignored by the recipient.
They were looking for legal arguments made by people regarding their plans, not public support. So, screw the spammers, but it's really weird that this is being made into such a huge deal. This isn't a vote, there's no ballot box to stuff. And even in the off chance a Russian made some good legal point about net neutrality, why would that be a bad thing?
Meanwhile, for those following the Russia stories, there's been huge news in the Flynn case, but I see almost no coverage. Well, we'll have to see how it plays out, sure, but the radio silence is just weird.
Yes, public comment like this is an ordinary part of their rulemaking. You can see something similar if you read, e.g. the responses to requests for DMCA exceptions from the Library of Congress. It may seem weird, but plenty of interested parties have lawyers bring up whatever legal points they wish to raise.
But that's also why I don't see them paying attention to the wishes of the general public at all. Most of us aren't lawyers and unless we raise some legal point, nothing we say actually matters to them at all. I think it's pretty clear that they went ahead with plans they had from the start.
So whether or not Russians or other foreigners commented in a web form open to the world or not, I don't see it as having mattered one bit.
No matter which side you believe, you can expect there to be Russian IP addresses on there. It was an open web form, anyone could leave a comment. Anyone could find a proxy if they were so inclined. I suspect lots of random foreigners would've commented and I don't think any of it mattered one bit, despite the constant protestations that foreigners making online comments about matters of international importance is something to fear for reasons that have never quite been made clear.
But apparently spamming a web form with pointless comments is really important to some people because it proves... something?
