Publication Date
11-2020
Journal
Cardozo Law Review
Abstract
A specter is haunting notice-and-comment rulemaking—the specter of fraudulent comments. The stand-out example—the apotheosis—was the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) net neutrality rulemaking in 2017. Well over twenty million comments were submitted, but millions of those were highly suspect. It turns out only about 800,000 of those comments were unique—that is, not written by a computer and not a pre-written form letter or variation thereof. And of the rest, perhaps half were submitted by computers (bots) using fictitious names or the names of real people, living and dead, who had no connection to the comment.
Volume
42
First Page
1
Publisher
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Keywords
fraudulent comments, rulemaking, notice-and-comment, net neutrality, false statements, mass comments, democracy
Disciplines
Communications Law | Criminal Law | Criminal Procedure | Internet Law | Law
Recommended Citation
Michael Herz,
Fraudulent Malattributed Comments in Agency Rulemaking,
42
Cardozo L. Rev.
1
(2020).
https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/faculty-articles/500
Included in
Communications Law Commons, Criminal Law Commons, Criminal Procedure Commons, Internet Law Commons
