More than a dozen people who say anti-Title II comments were submitted to the FCC under their names even though they did not submit or authorize them have called on the FCC to remove all fraudulent comments, which they suggest could actually number close to a half million.
The FCC's Restoring Network Freedom docket -- the proposal to roll back Title II classification of ISPs and rethink the rules against blocking, throttling and paid prioritization -- currently has more than 2.6 million comments.
"Our names and personal information were used to file comments we did not make to the Federal Communications Commission," the group wrote in a letter to the FCC posted on the Fight for the Future website, an organization that backs Title II and has been calling for the FCC to explain and fix problems with its comment system.
Related: Fight for the Future Seeks Net-Neutrality Docket Investigation
The letter's signatories -- 14 in all, from across the country -- were identified through Fight for the Future's Comcastroturf.com site, which encourages the public to investigate what Fight for the Future says are fake anti-net neutrality comments filed in the FCC docket.
"We are disturbed by reports that indicate you have no plans to remove these fraudulent comments from the public docket," the letter said. "Whoever is behind this stole our names and addresses, publicly exposed our private information without our permission, and used our identities to file a political statement we did not sign onto. Hundreds of thousands of other Americans may have been victimized too."
The letter writers want the FCC to remove all the fraudulent comments immediately; disclose any information it has on who was behind what they allege are 450,000 fake comments; and call for an investigation into any laws that may have been broken.
"Nearly half a million Americans may have been impacted by whoever impersonated us in a dishonest and deceitful campaign to manufacture false support for your plan to repeal net-neutrality protections," the letter said.
An FCC spokesperson was vetting the letter at press time.
The Comcastroturf.com website was in the news earlier this week after Comcast first filed a cease-and-desist letter about using its name, then said it would take no further action, suggesting the MSO had thought a cybersquatter was behind the site.
