The FCC's net neutrality comments debacle: What you need to know

Network neutrality may be dead, but questions remain about how seriously the Federal Communications Commission considered comments from the public. "To put it simply, there is evidence in the FCC's files that fraud has occurred and the FCC is telling law enforcement and victims of identity theft that it is not going to help," FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in Dec. "Failure to investigate this corrupted record undermines our process for seeking public input in the digital age."

While no one thinks a government agency should be lying to the public or that having a public record filled with fake comments from people using stolen identities is a good thing, it doesn't really affect the FCC's obligation in establishing policy.  The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) doesn't require the FCC to consider, respond to or even read every single comment. It's only obligated to respond to substantive points made. Net neutrality supporters argue that the FCC still has an obligation to ensure integrity in the public comment system. And they're disturbed that the agency has not helped in investigating these problems. Harold Feld, a lawyer at the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge, says the FCC's refusal to cooperate with investigations from congressional Democrats and the New York Attorney General's Office may come back to bite the FCC as it heads to court to defend its repeal of net neutrality. "We're in uncharted waters as far as the APA is concerned," he said. "I think the agency's refusal to respond when problems surfaced is going to hurt the FCC in court."