The Federal Communications Commission is gearing up for what some are expecting to be a record public-comment period for Chairman Ajit Pai’s proposed rulemaking to roll back “net neutrality.” However, officials in the agency warn that its system may go down if hit by “malicious attacks” or a massive number of comments.
About 4 million members of the public filed comments in 2014 on the proposed rule that led to the 2015 reclassification of Internet service providers like AT&T and Comcast as Title II public utilities. The regulations allowed more stringent FCC oversight over companies that might block or inhibit access to certain types of web services by creating pay-to-play fast lanes for certain content.
The number of comments in 2014 was a record according to the Obama administration, and one reporter noted there were issues handling the large volume of comments at the time.
A senior FCC official told reporters Thursday that the comment system has been upgraded since 2014 and 2015.
The FCC official said the agency will be putting out a public notice by close of business today that provides guidance to the public in terms of the best way to file comments so that the system can work as smoothly as possible.
“However, as the public notice will make clear, there are limits to what it can handle, and in particular the FCC has seen malicious traffic that tends to target our system at various times,” the FCC official said. “And so, we cannot guarantee that the system will stay up if such malicious attacks occur or if there’s just an overwhelming amount of people that want to file at the same time.”
