Reddit, Amazon Push For 'Day Of Action' On July 12 To Protest The Killing Of Net Neutrality

from the something-vaguely-resembling-accountability dept

So as we've been noting, a lot of people remain under the impression that companies like Google and Netflix still support net neutrality, and they'll be rushing in any moment now to help thwart the FCC's latest attempt to kill the rules. In reality, Techdirt readers know that Google hasn't actually supported net neutrality since around 2010 or so. Netflix, also perceived as a consumer ally on the subject, made it clear recently that it no longer sees the need to fight for net neutrality now that it's an international video powerhouse. The company's shift from disruption engines to slightly myopic legacy turf protectors should surprise nobody.

That said, Google and Netflix's departure from the conversation left many net neutrality advocates wondering if any bigger companies would be willing to lend a hand in the latest chapter in the debate. Amazon managed to answer that question this week by throwing its weight behind a July 12 "Day of Action" being coordinated by consumer advocacy group Fight For the Future. According to the group's website, Amazon will join Reddit, Etsy, the ACLU, California ISP Sonic, Mozilla, Kickstarter, BitTorrent, Github and Vimeo for a day of protest -- both online and off -- against the FCC's plan to gut the popular consumer protections.

The plan appears to be to mirror the Internet Slowdown Day back in 2014. You'll recall that that effort, which involved numerous major websites warning their visitors about the threat to net neutrality via site banners, helped convince Tom Wheeler to stop half-assing things, and classify ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act (giving them the adequate legal authority to enforce the rules). His decision was subsequently supported by the courts.

The problem, of course, is that Tom Wheeler was a bit of a rare bird in technology government policy circles. In that when presented with quality evidence that conflicted with his world view, he was actually willing to change his position and do the right thing -- even in the face of giant ISP lobbying pressure. It's part of the reason that Wheeler went from dingo to internet hero in relatively short order, breaking free of a long line of timid, bipartisan telecom industry sycophants heading the agency. There's zero indication so far that new FCC boss Ajit Pai has any of the qualities that made Wheeler popular.

Still, the companies and consumer advocacy firms hope the effort can still generate something vaguely resembling SOPA-esque accountability for Pai's plan to ignore the public interest and kill the rules:

"The effort is led by many of the grassroots organizations who have organized the largest online protests in history including the SOPA blackout and the Internet Slowdown," notes Fight the Future. "The day of action will focus on grassroots mobilization, with public interest groups activating their members and major web platforms providing their visitors with tools to contact Congress and the FCC."

The FCC is fielding comments on its plans to kill net neutrality until August 18, ahead of a finalizing vote to kill the rules later this year.

Filed Under: broadband, day of action, net neutrality
Companies: aclu, amazon, bittorrent, etsy, fight for the future, github, kickstarter, mozilla, reddit, sonic, vimeo

If Net Neutrality Dies, Comcast Can Just Block A Protest Site Instead Of Sending A Bogus Cease-And-Desist

from the comcastic dept

It appears that a vendor working for Comcast sent a totally bullshit cease-and-desist letter regarding a pro-net neutrality site: Comcastroturf.com, created by our friends over at Fight for the Future. The Comcastroturf website was set up as a tool to see if someone filed bogus FCC comments in your name. As you probably recall, there is a bot that has been flooding the FCC comment site with bogus anti-net neutrality comments, filed in alphabetical order. Reporters contacted some of the individuals whose names appear on these comments, and they had no idea what it was about. People are still trying to track down who is actually responsible for the bogus comments, but Fight for the Future set up this neat site to let you check if your name was used by whoever is behind it.

And, of course, the name "Comcastroturf" is pretty damn clever, given the topic. Kudos to Fight for the Future for coming up with that one. It is, of course, totally legal to use the domain name of a company that you're protesting in your own domain. There are numerous cases on this issue, normally discussed as the so-called "Sucks Sites." There's clearly no legal issue with Comcastroturf, and any reasonably informed human being would know that. Unfortunately, it would appear that Comcast hired a company that employs some non-reasonably informed humans.

The cease-and-desist letter was sent by a company called "Looking Glass Cyber Solutions" (no, really), which used to be called "Cyveillance" (only marginally less bad). We've written about Cyveillance twice before -- and both times they were about totally bogus takedown requests from Cyveillance that caused serious problems. The most recent was the time that Cyveillance, working for Qualcomm, filed a bogus DMCA notice that took down Qualcomm's own Github repository. Nice move. The earlier story, however was in 2013, and involved Cyveillance -- again representing Comcast -- sending a threatening takedown demand to some more of our friends over at TorrentFreak, claiming (ridiculously) that public court filings were Comcast's copyright-covered material, and threatening serious legal consequences if it wasn't taken down. Eventually, Comcast stepped in and admitted the cease-and-desist was "sent in error." You'd think that maybe this would have caused Comcast to think twice about using Cyveillance for such things. But, nope.

The rebranded Looking Glass Cyber Solutions has told Fight for the Future that "Comcastroturf" violates Comcast's "valuable intellectual property rights" and that failure to take down the site may lead to further legal action around cybersquatting and trademark violations. (Update: Turns out it wasn't a "rebranding" but Looking Glass bought Cyveillance...).

Of course, there's no way that Comcast would actually move forward with any legal action here. In fact, I'm pretty sure it already regrets the fact that the numbskulls at this vendor they hired to police their brand online just caused (yet another) massive headache for their brand online. Maybe, this time, Comcast will finally let Cyveillance/Looking Glass Cyber go, and find partners who don't fuck up so badly. Meanwhile, the fact that Looking Glass Cyber can't even figure out that Comcastroturf is a perfectly legal protest site makes the company's website -- which is chock full of idiotic buzzwords about "threat mitigation" and "threat intelligence" -- look that much more ridiculous. The only "threat" here is Looking Glass/Cyveillance and their silly cluelessness sending out censorious threats based on what appears to be little actual research.

Of course, without true net neutrality, if Comcast really wanted to silence Comcastroturf, it would just block everyone from accessing the site...

Filed Under: cease and desist, comcastroturf, cybersquatting, net neutrality, takedown
Companies: comcast, cyveillance, fight for the future, looking glass cyber solutions

Petition Calls For James Comey To Hang Up His Anti-Encryption Hat And Resign As Head Of The FBI

from the running-away-with-the-unpopularity-contest dept

James Comey continues to cut himself adrift from the encryption debate, taking a hardline stance not reflected by others in the intelligence community. While he has a few voices in his echo chamber (mainly Manhattan DA Cy Vance and… well, that's really about it), for the most part, Comey has become a street corner doomsayer, alternately crying out against the going-darkness and mumbling about "smart people" at "tech companies" and their unwillingness to carve government-sized doors in their encryption.

His testimony before Congress-- during the heated battle with Apple over the unlocking of a dead terrorist's iPhone -- was mostly composed of things he couldn't talk about and things he didn't know. At times, it was difficult to distinguish between the two.

Maybe it's time for the FBI to put someone more credible in charge. That's what Fight for the Future believes. It's crafted an online petition asking for Comey to step down as the FBI's director. In support of its suggestion, it points to Comey's lies to Congress about the San Bernardino iPhone, the mishandling of that case, the statements of former national security officials about the "stupidity" of punching holes in encryption, as well as his long history with the Bush Administration, in which Comey (as Deputy Attorney General) helped approve warrantless wiretapping programs and the CIA's "enhanced interrogation technique." Fight for the Future sums up:

We're afraid that after all these years unchecked, you've lost sight of what's good for American Democracy.

Director Comey, you're off the rails and your extreme behavior is putting lives in danger.

Evan Greer, the campaign director at Fight for the Future, said in an email that the letter was designed to send a message and acknowledged that it would not prompt the resignation of Comey, whose 10-year term ends in 2023.

"I think this is more one of those 'someone had to say it' situations," she said. "The goal of the letter is to show that Comey is isolated and extreme. Do I think he's just going to read this and suddenly decide to resign? Probably not. But he's increasingly losing credibility in D.C. and beyond, and we think this effort will help continue to highlight that."

Filed Under: encryption, going dark, james comey, resign
Companies: fight for the future