Disclose Limits on Commenters' Identities, GAO Urges FCC

Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., was among lawmakers who sought the review. It partly focused on FCC comment processes ahead of its 2017 vote to rescind 2015 net neutrality rules (see 1710130052). GAO said last year the FCC made progress addressing electronic comment filing system (ECFS) security vulnerabilities and needs to do more (see 2004240029). ECFS in 2017 “allowed commenters to use a file-sharing website to submit bulk files of comments using a specific template,” GAO said now. The agency “maintained a submission time stamp, the email address entered by the submitter, and the file name of the attachment submitted.” That “does not conclusively identify the source of unconfirmed comments,” the report said. The FCC’s online portal doesn’t “describe potential limitations of the shared comment data,” including “variation in available data, accuracy of the data, and their importance to agencies’ rulemaking decisions,” GAO said. “Information on these limitations can be important to help external users make informed decisions.” The commission has “specific plans to improve the ways that ECFS describes the information,” via ongoing “redevelopment” (see 1909160019), commented Managing Director Mark Stephens. “The rebuilt system” will include “rewritten” user help information that will “explicitly” define “the data elements that are maintained.” The commission is rewriting its ECFS user guide to “give plain-English instruction on how to use” the interface “and ensure that the data fields are clearly described,” Stephens said. Senate Homeland Security Committee ranking member Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., welcomed the audit. “Regulations.gov and other federal agency websites used to collect comments should be secure and easy to navigate, and they should clearly inform commenters how they will use their data,” Portman said. “People who abuse the comment process by trying to overwhelm the systems or filing comments using stolen identities should be held accountable. I hope federal agencies will adopt the GAO’s recommendations and work to improve the online commenting experience.” It’s “deeply troubling that GAO’s report confirms our earlier findings that federal agencies’ websites that collect public comments about proposed regulations are susceptible to abuse by bad actors,” Carper said. “We live in a time where disinformation spreads rapidly online and, as elected officials, we have a critical responsibility to ensure transparency and integrity.”