After HBO's Oliver Attacks Pai Net Neutrality Tack, ECFS Had Problems, FCC Saw Alleged DDoS Attack
After HBO comedian John Oliver went on the attack Sunday against FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and proposed net neutrality rules, the agency experienced a cyberattack and problems with its filing system. Oliver devoted most of his half-hour show to net neutrality. Net neutrality supporters predicted early on that Pai would make it onto Oliver’s Last Week Tonight show (see 1704110044). After the show, the FCC said its Electronic Comment Filing System was targeted by multiple distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS). We had difficulty using ECFS Monday as well.
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The attacks “were deliberate attempts by external actors to bombard the FCC’s comment system with a high amount of traffic to our commercial cloud host,” Chief Information Officer David Bray said in a statement. “These actors were not attempting to file comments themselves; rather they made it difficult for legitimate commenters to access and file with the FCC. While the comment system remained up and running the entire time, these DDoS events tied up the servers and prevented them from responding to people attempting to submit comments. We have worked with our commercial partners to address this situation and will continue to monitor developments going forward.”
Oliver got broad attention for his first report on net neutrality three years ago, with resulting comments crashing ECFS (see 1406040046). Oliver’s latest report, at more than 19 minutes, was six minutes longer than the 2014 segment.
“Every internet group has to come together like you successfully did three years ago,” Oliver told viewers. “Focus your indiscriminate rage in a useful direction.”
Oliver made fun of Pai’s iconic oversized coffee mug, bringing out a massive Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup mug of his own as a prop. He played part of a recent YouTube video by Verizon General Counsel Craig Silliman (see 1704280051) in which Silliman said Verizon supports net neutrality in general. “That sounds reasonable,” Oliver said. “Why wouldn’t you trust the commitment to open access of a man sitting at a table literally blocking an entire hallway.”
Oliver tried to explain the difference between Communications Act Titles I and II. Oliver acknowledged the topic on the surface was boring, “the equivalent of chasing an Ambien with a shot of chloroform.”
"It seems that the Trump era will basically control-Z everything that happened on [President Barack] Obama's watch," Oliver said in the segment. "I genuinely would not be surprised if one night [President Donald] Trump went on TV just to tell us that he personally killed every turkey that Obama ever pardoned."
“Once again, John Oliver nails it on the importance of strong open internet rules for our democracy and to prevent broadband price gouging,” Public Knowledge Vice President Chris Lewis said in a news release. “His wit revealed the hypocrisy of FCC Chairman Pai's effort to pad the pockets of cable and broadband monopolies by dismantling essential protections against internet discrimination. It's time for the public to weigh in and tell Chairman Pai, Congress and the White House to keep their hands off the open internet.”
Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, meanwhile, released a document Monday comparing comments by Pai in 2014 with what he has done on net neutrality since he became chairman. For example, in 2014 Pai said Congress, not “five unelected individuals,” should address the issue, Clyburn said in the document. As chairman, Pai is moving forward on revised rules, she said.
The FCC and Verizon didn't comment.