Comcast Floods FCC Hearing With Paid Placeholders: Critics

How big are the stakes in the so-called network neutrality debate now raging before Congress and federal regulators?

Consider this: One side in the debate actually went to the trouble of hiring people off the street to pack a Federal Communications Commission meeting yesterday--and effectively keep some of its opponents out of the room.

Broadband giant Comcast--the subject of the F.C.C. hearing on net neutrality at the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts--acknowledged that it did exactly that.

Comcast spokewoman Jennifer Khoury said the company paid some people to arrive early and hold places in the queue for local Comcast employees who wanted to attend the hearing.

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Read more about Monday's FCC hearing, as well as the commission's probe into whether they should be taking steps to discourage cable and telephone companies from delaying the downloads and uploads of heavy Internet users.

Comments

[abbiehoffmansghost]

Off with their heads.

[mediacynic]

gee. tried to follow the savetheinternet.com link. for some reason, my comcast high-speed connection won't open it -- oh, there it is, after 10 minutes. I guess we don't need to take special measures to preserve our free access to information, Comcast will take care of that for us.

[mediacynic]

gee. tried to follow the savetheinternet.com link. for some reason, my comcast high-speed connection won't open it -- oh, there it is, after 10 minutes. I guess we don't need to take special measures to preserve our free access to information, Comcast will take care of that for us.

[Shaddup]

Face it folk Comcast and the telecoms are simply treating the FCC hearings like the farce they are. Comcast and the telecoms already own the FCC.

[RHR]

Actually, I would suggest that Chairman Kevin Martin has been an equal opportunity dick to the entire communications industry.

His lack of understanding about technical capabilities is stupendous - - and the policy agenda he's forwarded based on his misinterpretations outlines this ignorance.

I'm no fan of high telecom or cable bills, but this dude is a rooster: up early and crowing.

[Shaddup]

Face it folk Comcast and the telecoms are simply treating the FCC hearings like the farce they are. Comcast and the telecoms already own the FCC.

[mrdontplay]

my country tis of the sweat land of liberty of the i sing...


we have put nooses around our necks and handed anonymous corporations the rope what do you expect?

[ibsteve2u]

lolll...There is no doubt in my mind that whoever arranged this "hearing stuffing" would scream bloody murder if somebody cut in line in front of their kids at Disneyworld.

Morality among business people is so wonderfully flexible, isn't it?

[doctordawg]

This is a criminal attack on democracy. This amounts to one-dollar-one-vote fascism, and must be outlawed and punished immediately.

[Perdurabo]

What Democracy?

[mmckinl]

Wow ...

Every time I think the corporations wouldn't dare do that .... they do !

[WIpatriot]

Can't miss one of those opportunities, mmc...