Is it worth commenting on a federal rule?
The Federal Communications Commission is planning to repeal rules on net neutrality that say internet providers can’t choose to load some websites faster than others. But before the agency could make that announcement, it had to go through what’s called a comment period to release its proposal to the public and then give people a chance to say what think. The agency received a record 22 million comments — some for, some against, some allegedly created by bots. In the end, the agency’s moving ahead with what it initially planned. So why do federal agencies offer comment periods? And do regulators take the comments seriously?
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