The Sunlight Foundation reports that a “shadowy” group inundated the FCC with letters opposing net neutrality during the commission’s second-round commenting period in September. The deluge of manufactured opposition accounted for more than half of the total anti-net neutrality comments according to an article on FierceCable.

The article says that questions arose when 60 percent of the second-round comments opposed equity on the Internet after first-round commenting had been so overwhelmingly supportive of net neutrality. The Sunlight Foundation analyzed 1.6 million anti-net neutrality letters received by the Federal Communications Commission with natural language processing technology and identified the nonprofit behind the anti-net neutrality. Most of the missives were tied to a group called American Commitment. The nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation says multi-billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch back American Commitment.

The Koch brothers, who are the ultra-rich radical right-wing owners of many common household products including:

• American Greetings
• Angel Soft
• Angel Soft Ultra
• Brawny paper towels
• Dixie products
• Insulair cups
• Mardis Gras napkins
• Perfect Touch cups, paper products
• Quilted Northern
• Sparkle paper towels
• Vanity Fair napkins & paper towels
• Zee Napkins

According to the Sunlight Foundation, 99% of respondents in round one demanded that the FCC support net neutrality. In round two of the FCC comment period, comments opposing net neutrality rose to 60%. The Sunlight Foundation investigated this huge swing in citizen sentiment and wrote:

We attribute this shift almost entirely to the form-letter initiatives of a single organization, American Commitment, who are single-handedly responsible for 56.5 percent of the comments in this round

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If you don’t buy Angel Soft TP or Georgia Pacific drywall, the Koch’s are active in many ways in Michigan (and the rest of the country I’m sure). They polluted areas of Detroit by creating mountains of pet coke along the banks of the Detroit River. They pushed Snyder to withhold support for Detroit’s bankruptcy plans and backed the failed Senate campaign of Terry Lynn Land.

It is never good for normal people when the 1% get involved. The Koch brothers are definitely 1%, out to screw the rest of the world and make some money at the same time. Get involved, defend internet freedom in Michigan and the best of the world.

Related articles

• Republicans plan to push back against net neutrality in 2015 (stateofglobe.com)

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.