FCC Ordered To Disclose Data About Net Neutrality Commenters

Siding with The New York Times, a federal judge has ordered that the Federal Communications Commission must disclose information about users who submitted comments during the 2017 net neutrality proceeding, despite the agency's objections that doing so could compromise people's privacy. US District Court Judge Lorna Schofield in the Southern District of New York ruled that disclosure of the data -- including commenters' IP addresses, time stamps, and user-agent headers -- is in the public interest, particularly given concerns that many comments were fraudulent. “If genuine public comment is drowned out by a fraudulent facsimile, then the notice-and-comment process has failed,” Judge Schofield wrote. “Disclosing the requested data in this case informs the public understanding of the operations and activities of government in two ways -- at the micro level with regard to the integrity of the FCC’s repeal of the particular net neutrality rules at issue, and at the macro level with regard to the vulnerability of agency rulemaking in general.”

“The strongest argument in favor of finding a substantial privacy interest is that digital advertisers and digital platforms could combine this data with other available information to create a detailed and intimate profile that might include information about a person’s race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religious belief, sexual identity and activity, income level, purchasing habits and medical information,” she wrote. “If the record provided further insight into how likely it is that this risk would materialize, then the agency might have sustained its burden of showing that the disclosure of IP addresses and User-Agent headers would compromise a substantial privacy interest.”

"Litigation should not have been necessary to get this vital information," said Andrew Schwartzman, senior counselor, Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. "I hope the Commission will now comply promptly rather than drag things out with appeals that will not succeed."