Millions of People Post Comments on Federal Regulations. Many Are Fake.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Long article, and no paywall.

Retweeted by David Fahrenthold: https://twitter.com/Fahrenthold

WSJ found 7,800 people who said comments posted on federal agencies’ regulatory dockets in their names were fakes. It’s a felony to knowingly make false statements to a federal agency.

Link to tweet

HIDDEN INFLUENCE

Millions of People Post Comments on Federal Regulations. Many Are Fake.

A Wall Street Journal investigation uncovered thousands of fraudulent posts on agencies’ dockets, in hot-button areas such as net neutrality and payday lending

By James V. Grimaldi and Paul Overberg | Graphics by Shane Shifflett

A comment posted on the Federal Communications Commission’s public docket endorses a Trump-administration plan to repeal a “net neutrality” policy requiring internet providers to treat all web traffic the same. ... Calling the old Obama-era policy an “exploitation of the open Internet,” the comment was posted on June 2 by Donna Duthie of Lake Bluff, Ill. ... It’s a fake. Ms. Duthie died 12 years ago.



The comment filed under Donna Duthie’s name, with some details redacted by The Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal has uncovered thousands of other 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.

Reports earlier this year of fraudulent comments on the FCC docket prompted the Journal to investigate the phenomenon there and at other federal agencies. 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. ... The Journal found instances of fakes that favored antiregulation stances but also comments mirroring consumer-groups’ pro-regulation talking points, posted without permission of people whose names were on them.
....

The scope of the fake comments is evident on the FCC website in 818,000 identical postings backing its new internet policy. The agency is expected on Thursday to roll back President Barack Obama’s 2015 rules, which telecommunication companies have called onerous. Consumer groups and Internet giants such as Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc. back the Obama rules and have fought efforts by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to nix them. .... In a random sample of 2,757 people whose emails were used to post those 818,000 comments, 72% said they had nothing to do with them, according to a survey the Journal conducted with research firm Mercury Analytics.
....

HIDDEN INFLUENCE | MILLIONS OF PEOPLE POST COMMENTS ON FEDERAL REGULATIONS. MANY ARE FAKE.
By James V. Grimaldi and Paul Overberg | Graphics by Shane Shifflett

@jamesvgrimaldi

@poverberg
[e-mail]

UPDATED DEC. 12, 2017 2:13 P.M. ET

Retweeted by Paul Overberg: https://twitter.com/poverberg

How we found the thousands of fake comments http://quid.fyi/2jUtf8q by @poverberg @JamesVGrimaldi @wsj

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U.S.

How We Found the Fakes

The Wall Street Journal’s methodology for investigating phony comments filed with federal agencies

By Paul Overberg and James V. Grimaldi

@poverberg
[e-mail]

@jamesvgrimaldi

Dec. 12, 2017 12:58 p.m. ET

For its investigation of fake comments filed with federal agencies, The Wall Street Journal examined documents that agencies compile when making or revising regulations.​The Journal’s financial-regulatory reporters, including Yuka Hayashi, Sarah Chacko and Dave Michaels, provided suggestions for rules to review.

These “dockets” include comments by the public, which agencies must accept and review. Many agencies keep their dockets online and post some or all comments. The Journal used two key approaches:

{snip}

[elleng]

1. This wasn't a 'thing' til trump and the russkies.

The combo is absolutely toxic to our form of government.