AMA: NY AG Schneiderman on net neutrality and protecting our voice in government

Pai has specifically said he wants (and has the power) to Federally pre-empt state-level NN initiatives.

I think it's the wrong decision. We live in a democracy, and our country has clear laws requiring federal agencies to honor every citizen’s right to have his or her voice heard on any policy, like net neutrality, that impacts all of us. Our investigation has already shown that the legally required public comment process was deeply corrupted by bad actors. Until we are able to investigate who did this and why, and determine with greater certainty which comments are legitimate and which are bogus, our citizens’ voices are not being heard.

Chairman Pai has not disputed that the fake comments we identify exist – both supporting and opposing net neutrality -- or that Americans’ identities were illegally misused. Instead, his office has tried to paint the issue as a partisan attack. As I’ve repeatedly made clear, this is not about the merits of net neutrality. It’s about the integrity of the process by which a hugely important policy decision is made, and that’s a matter everyone has a stake in, regardless of their view on a particular issue.

Additionally, have you been working with any other state AGs regarding this issue?

We've received and we welcome submissions from people across the country. As New York's Attorney General, my responsibility is to the people of New York. But what happened in the NN comment process affects all of us. I think that's why we've had AGs from other states reach out to us for information along these lines. So if your identity was misused, I encourage you to notify your state officials as well.

This might be related so I wanted to tack on a question: Does the FCC, especially Pai consider one of the only options for providers of broadband in the North East considered a competitive market?

Great question. State and local governments should do definitely take action to support net neutrality, because the overwhelming majority of their citizens – regardless of politics or ideology -- favor net neutrality. That’s been proven again and again in every survey and study to measure public sentiment.

Right now, the most effective thing state and local government officials can do is to join the chorus of citizens calling on their state’s Senators and Representatives in DC, demanding that they oppose Chairman Pai’s proposed rollback of the existing Title II protections. If enough folks in Congress--from both parties--feel pressure to stand up and demand that the FCC preserve net neutrality, it'll be much harder for the FCC to disregard the will of the public.

Correct, because of federal supremacy. The state and federal governments are “separate sovereignties”, but not co-equal ones.

The assistance we’ve requested should not require a subpoena. State and federal agencies cooperate all the time, especially when they are engaged in law enforcement investigations into illegal conduct. The FCC has worked with my office in the past under such circumstances, and there is no good reason for them not to work with us here. Regardless of any legal constraints that may exist on a state law enforcement office’s ability to compel a federal agency to cooperate in an investigation, cooperation always should be -- and usually is -- provided voluntarily.

Net Neutrality has a specific meaning, and is supposed to protect against one specific mechanism that would undercut the internet's openness.

The fear of Non-Net-Neutrality goes far beyond the usual "there's only two ISPs where I life and they both offer the same deals".

It's something in completely its own category of nefariousness because they could be as anticompetitive as they want, and the market could not solve it.

That's because the injured party isn't their customers, who could take their business elsewhere, or at least loudly complain on the internet (if they have any).

It's someone not part to the ISP<->customer contract, namely that unknown video startup in Nantucket, or the e2e-encrpyted messenger app your friend Lauren is working on. They're going to be forced into paying ISPs if they ever want to reach the ISPs' customers. And there's no risk to the ISP, because nobody is going to change ISPs for some startup they've never heard about.

The result could be ISPs capturing almost every cent of value created by new startups. We will also have a fractured internet, because small companies will have to negotiate contracts with every single ISP. Also want to reach those 500,000 people in eastern Montana? That'll cost you $2,000 per week.

Anyone not living on the US coasts, and people in other countries, will constantly run into "HTTP Error 469: go suck a bag of.."

both paragraphs are whataboutism. The first talks about comment content which the AG did not reference. The second talks about an entirely irrelevant issue and tries to shift the definition of a term to something broader that clouds discussion.

I’m glad you asked – this report is really telling. It’s been reported that this study was paid for by Broadband for America, which counts many big ISPs as members. Yet even this study found massive flaws in the comments, including about 8 million comments using made-up identities. Also revealing, is its findings about the approximately 1.5 million comments that were personalized, meaning someone felt so strongly about the issue they went to the extra trouble to write a unique comment themselves (versus, say, signing a petition – which is certainly valid but less labor-intensive). Of those 1.5 million personalized comments, 98.5% were pro-neutrality.

>They seem to have found that both sides have been stuffing the ballot box

That's not entirely clear from that source. And even if it were, that's reason to try something different to solicit public feedback, not to go ahead with whatever the telcos say to do.

> That is Google, Facebook, Twitter, as the main gateways to public discourse treat all comments equally without promoting one viewpoint over another that does not enjoy elite sanction?

This has nothing to do with net neutrality. NN is about your right to transmit information over the internet, not your right to have someone else transmit it for you. If you want to talk about regulations on big content providers, fine, but it's totally irrelevant to the discussion at hand.

>What good is NN as it stands if edge providers can treat bits differently?

NN is not about edge providers. It's about not allowing middlemen to use their natural-monopoly power to censor edge providers.

Report it: http://ag.ny.gov/fakecomments

My office put up a web page where you can easily check if your identity was misused and, if so, report the abuse to us: ag.ny.gov/fakecomments. In just a few days we’ve received thousands of comments, not just from New Yorkers but from all over the country. My team is reviewing those submissions for further evidence and leads in our investigation. Those submissions help us learn more about the attributes of different fake comments. We've also been sharing information from these submissions with the Attorneys General in other states who have reached out to us for more information about their own constituents’ identities being illegally misused.

I feel the harm is caused by appropriating a process that's supposed to be a way for citizens to voice their opinion and rendering it useless, regardless of which names are signed to the content for or against. It seems like another attack on citizens' trust for government process.

> How do these comments harm real people?

When they are used to justify policies that harm real people. That question is so silly I first thought it was rhetorical.

This is a question I've gotten a lot in recent days -- and I totally get it. When it comes to this issue, I ask people to keep something important in mind: the law protects more than just our physical safety – it protects important intangibles, such as our property interests, our civil rights, our control of our identities, and even our dignity. Fake comments hurt Americans in several ways. First, they deprive those who wish to make their voice heard the ability to do so, by drowning them out or negating their actual view (especially when a fake comment in their name is misused with a comment expressing the opposite view of the one they really hold – we’ve see lots of these). Second, fake comments lead to worse policy outcomes for everyone, because policymakers are acting on incorrect information. Third, fake comments can erode public faith in their government’s legitimacy, which is indispensable in a democracy. Fourth, they are an offense to dignity for many of those whose identities are misused. On the web form my office put up for people to check if their identity was misused and report it, we included a comment form. What we’ve seen is very telling: many New Yorkers, and Americans in other states, are deeply insulted that their identities were misused.

The law in our country requires federal agencies to provide every citizen with the right to notice and the opportunity to have his or her voice heard in policymaking. We now know from my office’s investigation and other reports of major flaws in the current proceeding that our citizens have not been given the opportunity to be truly heard, because the real voices are being drowned out, negated, or undermined by fake comments, stolen identities, and other irregularities.

I disagree with those people who call the comment period a mere “PR gimmick.” For approximately 70 years America has had laws requiring federal agencies to provide citizens with notice of certain policy changes and an opportunity to make their voices heard. The last time net neutrality was up for consideration, the FCC received an outpouring from the public in favor of Title II net neutrality protections, and the FCC ultimately adopted those rules.

Fortunately, it's not just my office that’s publicly supported net neutrality. (My office did submit its own public comment in support of net neutrality because we had an issue we wanted to address that was unique to our experience.) Several other state AGs submitted a comment in support of net neutrality as well (available here: https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/10717283141719/2017.07.17%20Att...)

You are right that a broad bipartisan coalition could make a big difference. Some other state AGs have reached out to us for more information about the problem and about my office’s investigation, and we’re providing information to any of them that want to investigate and act on behalf of their own states’ constituents whose identities were misused.

As a follow up, if it was intentionally done, can/will there be any legal consequences?

Hmm, I just found a comment using my same name (rare, but not unique) but an address for what looks to be an abandoned house in the next town over from where I grew up...

Wow – I’m honored! The volcano of bad ideas coming out of this administration has kept me busy on a lot of fronts, so I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to keep myself up to date on the boards here. But I can say that my staff – especially in my Bureau of Internet & Technology – does try to keep up on the news in tech and any potential problems we need to address. My understanding from them is that the tech community has been incredibly active on net neutrality, and incredibly helpful and supportive of our efforts on the issue. I thank you all for that. If you have a specific proposal for how to help our office's investigation, I encourage you to get in touch and my team will get back to you as soon as they can.

https://ag.ny.gov/contact-attorney-general

you are so ignorant. "our forum". net neutrality has become a partisan wedge issue.

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/fcc-s-plan-to-toss-n...

On Congress: Many members of Congress have already spoken up and called on the FCC to halt the process until the problems with public comments can be investigated. I hope more of our elected officials in Washington take up that call. If enough members of Congress support net neutrality, especially if it is a bipartisan group, then I believe the FCC is less likely to repeal the strong Title II net neutrality protections that we know the overwhelming majority of Americans support.

On what you can do: I’ve called on the FCC to delay its vote. So has FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, one of the leading champions of net neutrality. And so have at least 28 U.S. Senators. Americans absolutely have the right to make their preferences known to their elected representatives in Washington, and I encourage you to do so, especially if those officials haven’t already spoken publicly about net neutrality. If members of Congress – speaking on behalf of their constituents – speak out on any issue, their statements matter.

My interest in a pause in the process is to get to the bottom of the fake comments and misuse of New Yorkers’ identities, and to make sure real Americans are given the right to have their voices heard. At heart, what we're talking about aren't the merits of net neutrality -- it's the integrity of the democratic policymaking process and the rule of law. In that way, I believe such a delay would be very beneficial to any ultimate result.

It may violate a number of laws, including laws against impersonation or misuse of identity and falsification or forgery. Depending on facts we uncover, it could also be a form of a deceptive business practice. Some of that conduct is criminal under NY law, and some of it also constitutes a civil violation.