How A Lobbying Firm May Have Submitted Fake FCC Comments

Posted on Saturday March 02, 2019

Remember when dozens of Americans said their names were used for fake comments sent to America's FCC opposing net neutrality? Now Gizmodo's taken a hard look at their past interviews with Dan Germain, the CTO of a company that helps lobbyists construct digital "grassroots" campaigns -- and at the conservative nonprofit Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF). Attempting to confirm or disprove the alleged link between CQ and CFIF, Gizmodo initiated its own review of the API data logs last week, focusing on comments from dozens of people who claim they were impersonated online.... [T]imestamps contained in the API logs reveal an unmistakable correlation between the use of CQ's API key and numerous identical comments containing CFIF's text... By comparing the API logs to comment data that the FCC had already made publicly available, Gizmodo found more than a dozen comments containing CFIF's boilerplate language... In each successful case, the comments were received by the FCC while CQ's API key was in use, with the logs reflecting deviations in the timestamps roughly equivalent to the blink of an eye... Prior to CQ becoming a subject of interest in an ongoing criminal investigation, Germain explained at length that his company had created a platform specifically to direct comments to the FCC and that it had been operational since at least 2016.... Whereas many of the groups responsible for uploading millions of comments requested only one or two API keys, logs show that CQ, over a period of several months, requested no fewer than 114. The article notes that identical comments using language from CFIF "are now suspected of having been uploaded using CQ' software" -- and that they were submitted to the FCC "several hundred thousand times."

 

How to minimize Wi-Fi hiccups

Posted on Friday March 01, 2019

Today, you simply can't survive without a Wi-Fi connection. Businesses need fast, secure, and reliable internet to get work done and satisfy customers. But what about when you experience Wi-Fi issues? These fixes ought to do the trick!

 

Why is HTTPS important?

Posted on Thursday February 28, 2019

Many internet users still do not understand what the padlock icon in their web browser's address bar is for. It represents HTTPS, a security feature that authenticates websites and protects the information users submit to them. This is an important feature that lets users know whether the site they are visiting is secure or not.

 

Lessons from a disaster recovery plan audit

Posted on Wednesday February 27, 2019

Why do some companies fail their disaster recovery plan (DPR) audit? Perhaps because they did not get the right information for it. They say experience is the best teacher; thus, nothing beats what you can learn from real-world case studies. See what you can learn from the following case.

 

How to transfer files from Android via USB cable

Posted on Tuesday February 26, 2019

You can use Wi-Fi to transfer files between your Android phone and your PC or Mac, but if an internet connection is unavailable or unstable, there's another option: use your trusted USB cable. Read on to find out how your USB cable can help you move files between devices without a hitch.

 

Will virtual containers change IT?

Posted on Monday February 25, 2019

As technical as virtualization and virtual containers are, there's no reason your company shouldn't benefit from them. IT specialists all over the country are setting up and supporting these technologies for small businesses to increase efficiency and cut down on technology costs.

 

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