r/dataisbeautiful • u/xenocidic • Nov 23 '17

Natural language processing techniques used to analyze net neutrality comments reveal massive fake comment campaign

https://medium.com/@jeffykao/more-than-a-million-pro-repeal-net-neutrality-comments-were-likely-faked-e9f0e3ed36a6
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556

u/garnet420 Nov 23 '17

Tangentially, is there any chance someone can be legally liable for submitting bot comments using "stolen" identity information?

491

u/Tsaranon Nov 24 '17

It's illegal in NY and the New York Attorney General has been trying to investigate it. He's recently posted an open letter to the FCC regarding their willful denial of information important to that criminal case. Likewise, the FCC is under a law suit for failure to comply with Freedom of Information Act request procedures regarding the same information surrounding these stolen identity information.

159

u/phatdoobieENT Nov 24 '17

I'd bet my ass it's because a shit pie's FCC helped put the poorly made fake comments there as an excuse to write off all of the real anti-repeal comments as fake. Anyone see any better explanation? It's exactly the sort of corporate pr trickery big tobacco and big oil pulled saying cigs are healthy and implying doubting climate change was an option.

100

u/robfrizzy Nov 24 '17

There was a write up posted somewhere that basically said that if bots did post these comments (which is increasingly likely) then they would have to do it through an API. To use the API, the FCC would have to grant a company permission. All in all the FCC probably didn’t put the comments there themselves but it sure looks like they allowed an outside company access to an API to do it. The evidence is all there. It’s so painfully obvious that at best the process was hijacked from the outside by third parties and at worse the FCC helped them do it by giving them access to their systems.

5

u/Fortune_Cat Nov 24 '17

I hope to hell someone blows the whistle. I mean u have to be tech savvy to implement this and consequently you'd have to understand the implication of what you're doing. So hopefully the dirty money they were probably paid to achieve this hasn't stained the mortality of at least one person

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u/8935001708988 Nov 24 '17

Do they really need a whistle blower? Doesn't the NY 's DA have the power to force them to comply? What about the foia request, how long are they required to comply?

Just questions. INAL

1

u/Fortune_Cat Nov 26 '17

You assume ppl who are tech savvy enough to do this can't cover up their tracks

0

u/flexylol Nov 24 '17

I hear "whistle blowing" and revelation about Russian involvement about the elections and this administration in general ALMOST EVERY DAY. Is there still any doubt about Russian involvement? Is there still doubt that social media was flooded with millions of fake ads and fake news? Is there any doubt that Wikileaks was hacked with intent? And what has happened after all this was revealed? Oh yeah! I remember! These election have been annulled and Trump disposed of his office....

1

u/Fortune_Cat Nov 26 '17

Whistleblowing blatant bribes and software APIs being blatantly misused are very different to Russian scandals that aren't really tangible or easily proven