On network neutrality, procrastination is an even more powerful force than John Oliver

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John Oliver may have gotten heaps of attention for his 13-minute early-June jeremiad on network neutrality that called viewers to contact the Federal Communications Commission to urge it to protect the Internet. But new data from the FCC reveals that Oliver's call-to-arms pales in comparison to that other great force in American life: dilly-dallying.

There was, indeed, a spike in comments submitted through the FCC’s electronic comment system after the June 1 segment; there were just 612 on the Saturday before the show, 9,673 on the Sunday it aired, and 14,899 that Monday. (Insert here the necessary 'correlation is not causation' caveat. It's also worth noting that Oliver show, in fact, had little noticeable effect on the number of comments filed by e-mail, rather the commission's Web-based system.) And Oliver seems to have set off a long-lasting ripple effect; nearly three weeks elapsed before the level of comments dropped down to pre-show levels. But a far bigger upsurge was triggered by a natural regulatory deadline: the July 15 deadline for the first round of comments. On that day -- despite the fact that the FCC's Web site largely stopped responding under the weight of contributors first filing and then search for their own comments -- some 18,740 comments were submitted. And on the next day, after the comment deadline was extended, a full 52,353 poured in.


On network neutrality, procrastination is an even more powerful force than John Oliver