At best, net neutrality is an ‘I told you so’ kind of mistake

The following editorial ran in The Bangor Daily News (Maine), on Dec. 13:

Net neutrality, the concept that aims to ensure equal access to the internet for consumers by barring internet providers from discriminating among content and applications, is a hotly debated topic.

But it seems suspicious that interest in the topic has risen more than five-fold in the last three years. It should also raise concerns that the Federal Communications Commission has received nearly 450,000 comments on the topic from Russian email addresses.

So far, the FCC has received more than 21 million comments on its proposal to end the neutrality rules. When the rules were contemplated in 2014, the commission received 4 million comments. Of this year's comments, more than half have come from temporary or duplicate emails, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center. Nearly 8 million comments appear to be fake.

Given this mess, there is good reason for the FCC to slow the process down and sort out what real American citizens think about the proposed rule change. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai seems unlikely to take this prudent path, instead holding a vote to gut net neutrality on Thursday as scheduled.

This is a mistake. We know why large internet providers, like Comcast, Verizon and AT&T, want to do away with the neutrality rules. They want to make more money. But the FCC doesn't just represent corporate interests. It is also supposed to ensure that the best interests of American citizens are upheld.

Given the huge volume of dubious comments filed in this case, there is no way for the commission to gauge the true sentiment of the American people. That's why sorting the fake public comments from the real should take precedence over a rushed vote.

"Given both the reports that fraudulent bots overwhelmingly participated in undermining the public comment period, and the significant weight of the FCC's upcoming decision and its potential adverse impact on the market, I strongly encourage Chairman Pai to delay this week's net neutrality vote so the American people can have their voices accurately and thoroughly heard," said Sen. Angus King, one of 27 senators who sent a letter to Pai raising concerns about the public comment process.