As a better writer than me once said, a fine is a fee:
You might recall how when U.S. telecom giants lobbied the Trump FCC to kill net neutrality, they hired a bunch of PR firms to flood the FCC with fake comments from a bunch of fake and dead people. The goal: create the illusion of support for shitty, unpopular policies. It’s a pretty popular tactic by corporations and lobbying firms looking to influence the government and/or create the illusion of consensus.
In 2021, New York Attorney General Leticia James unveiled a report (also see accompanying statement) proving what most people already knew: the broadband industry was behind the use of fake and dead people to generate bogus support for the FCC’s controversial 2017 repeal of net neutrality. The report didn’t name any specific broadband companies and only singled out the proxy firms they used.
Several years later, and James’ office has finally managed to dole out a wrist slap fine ($615,000) for the three PR and policy firms used by the broadband industry: LCX Digital Media, Lead ID, LLC., and Ifficient Inc. All three “lead generation” companies also worked for other companies looking to influence policies at agencies like the EPA. And not for the betterment of competent policymaking or mankind.
Once again, none of the telecom monopolies that actually hired the firms (Comcast and AT&T are often suspected to be the most active in these kinds of campaigns) are even named in the announcement,
NY AG Doles Out Wrist Slap Fine To Companies That Helped Telecom Giants Use Fake And Dead People To Lie About Net Neutrality | Techdirt
The NY AG let these people get away with deliberately commit fraud in order to manipulate the democratic process. The fine is likely not enough to cover what they were paid for this work, and even if it is, you can be sure that the Telcos involved will send enough business their way to more than make up for the fee. It is just a cost of doing business, committing fraud to subvert democratic accountability, now, thanks to decisions like these.
There is no real accountability for people in power. We have reached the stage where the people in charge cannot possibly be held responsible for anything they have done wrong. They must be right, because they are the people in charge. And if you, a government official, want to later get a higher paying industry job, then you’d best not remind them they are wrong.
And this is likely just the start. Imagine how much efficient this is going to be once AI systems become involved. And of course, they will, because how can we trust the same people who let clear violations go with less than wrist slaps tackle policing a more complex and complicated problem?
When people talk about how AI is going to harm democracy, this is part of what they are discussing. A culture of impunity and immunity combined with massive financial incentives to attempt to overthrow the will of voters by hook or by crook will inevitably lead to corrupt attempts to overwhelm democratic institutions with bullshit. They are already doing it with much less useful tools. Imagine the wonderland of fraud and deceit ChatGPT can help them usher into being.
And they will be allowed to do so as long as the worse the face is a fee. Democracy doesn’t die in the dark. It dies in broad daylight, when people can see that they are being played for suckers.
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