Gov performance

Public entities like the Federal Communications Commission and state legislatures are supposed to look after the common good. Instead, their policies are making things tougher for small towns and rural areas anxious to improve their connectivity.

So many people rightfully believe Washington is not listening to their concerns, fears, and desires. It saddens me that with the release of this decision rolling back net neutrality, you can add the FCC to the list. In this document, the American public can see for themselves the damage done by this agency to internet openness. Going forward, our broadband providers will have the power to block websites, throttle services, and censor online content. This is not right.

While USAC is encouraged that its information technology systems delivered continual reliability and availability improvements for our universal service program participants and contributors in 2017, we agree with your assessment that USAC must redouble its efforts to ensure that we are adequately planning, coordinating, testing and reviewing our systems to ensure that they are functional, reliable, and secure.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai asked the Universal Service Administrative Company Board of Directors to redouble its efforts at oversight -- specifically in the areas of information technology and security. He said USAC's technology problems are why the FCC does not have a fully functional E-Rate Productivity Center or a Lifeline National Verifier.

In a letter sent to the Federal Communications Commission , 18 attorneys general from around the country called on the agency to delay the Dec 14 vote on a repeal of net neutrality protections. The 11th-hour letter, sent by the Oregon attorney general and signed by representatives of 17 states and DC, follows a high-profile press conference from the New York attorney general, who said the FCC had declined to investigate net neutrality comments posted under stolen identities.

The Federal Communications Commissions' public comment period on its plans to repeal net neutrality protections was bombarded with bots, memes, and input from people who don't actually exist. So, with the FCC declining to investigate its own comments, we decided to undertake an analysis of our own. We confirmed six bots and 11 form letters.

The Wall Street Journal has uncovered thousands of fraudulent comments on regulatory dockets at federal agencies, some using what appear to be stolen identities posted by computers programmed to pile comments onto the dockets. After sending surveys to nearly 1 million people—predominantly from the FCC docket—the Journal found a much wider problem than previously reported, including nearly 7,800 people who told the Journal comments posted on federal dockets in their names were fakes.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD) took to the Senate floor to praise the Federal Communications Commission'’s work and transparency while calling on supporters of an open internet to support bipartisan legislation.

Reps Jerry McNerney (D-CA) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai expressing their strong disappointment that the Chairman has failed to provide repeatedly requested documentation related to the alleged May 7 distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System. 

[Commentary] The Federal Communications Commission’s record is missing key evidence: over 50,000 Net Neutrality consumer complaints submitted to the FCC between 2015 and 2017.