14 DAY TRIAL // Activists from Fight for the Future are accusing Comcast of siccing its lawyers on them and one of the sites it created, called Comcastroturf.
The site catalogs what the Fight for the Future says are phony "astroturfing" comments made to the FCC on Comcast's behalf. More specifically, these are those anti-net neutrality comments that flooded the FCC's website, using the same copy-pasted text and using phony credentials to sign them, with the names and addresses allegedly being taken off the leaked database of the City River Media.
Comcast's lawyers have sent the site a "cease and desist" notice as they allege the site violates intellectual property. In short, the company believes Comcastroturf is a term that's too similar to Comcast's own domain and company name. The document mentions the telco will drop the issue if it is given control over the domain.
"This is exactly why we need Title II net neutrality protections that ban blocking, throttling, and censorship. If Ajit Pai’s plan is enacted, there would be nothing preventing Comcast from simply blocking sites like Comcastroturf.com that are critical of their corporate policies. It also makes you wonder what Comcast is so afraid of? Are their lobbying dollars funding the astroturfing effort flooding the FCC with fake comments that we are encouraging Internet users to investigate?" said Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future.
Was the DDoS attack real?
The site was created as the group is accusing the FCC of actually faking the DDoS attack that took down the site a couple of weeks ago, effectively shutting down the comments section as people were trying to share their opinion on the matter, particularly after John Oliver urged people to stand up in protection of Net neutrality. One of the FCC's members said no details would be made public because that would mean sharing people's personal details, like IP addresses.
Comcast has told The Register that it will be backing off the matter, explaining the "cease and desist" letter received by the site as the type of action routinely taken by the outside vendor that monitors websites using their name and brands without authorization.