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The ‘Internet Slowdown’ Generated Nearly a Million Comments the FCC Won’t Read
Wednesday’s internet slowdown, a massive protest that encouraged some 777,000 people to write comments defending net neutrality to the Federal Communications Commission, was a huge success, in terms of getting people to actually write to the agency. The only problem, however, is that those comments are almost certainly going directly into the digital trash bin.
Obviously, raising awareness for a hugely important issue is commendable, and getting people to comment to the FCC on net neutrality is a noble goal, but form letters, as we’ve explored before, are not an effective way to get the FCC to change its mind on much of anything.
Image: Battle for the Net
Earlier this summer, I spoke with several regulatory law experts about the proceedings, and the general consensus was that this type of clicktivism is not actually effective in changing the hearts and minds of the people who matter.
“In theory, all comments are read and considered. In reality, most are worthless,” Richard Pierce, a law professor at George Washington University’s law school told me at the time. “Studies of other rulemakings have found that a high proportion of comments—typically 95-98%—are brief statements for or against a proposal from naïve or misinformed citizens. The agency can do nothing with comments of that type.”
Source: http://philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/2014/09/the-internet-slowdown-generated-nearly-a-million-comments-the-fcc-wont-read/
