Apparently the FCC didn’t pay for the fast lanes it’s trying to implement. On the last day of commenting regarding the recent net neutrality legislation that would allow Internet service providers to charge more for faster service, the website’s comment section broke.
Arstechnica’s Jon Brodkin reported the news after he attempted to make an FCC complaint only to have the system spit back an error message. He tried several more times, receiving an error message and a blank page in the process.
Brodkin initially thought it was an isolated incident, until he saw several other sources claiming they could not make comments either.
I tried accessing the website as well, but to no avail.
The agency is currently in the middle of a spat between Internet service providers looking to charge more for “fast lane” Internet and private companies who claim the practice is unfair and tantamount to a monopoly. Opponents argue that the “fast lane” would stymie upstart Internet companies who wouldn’t be able to afford the service, while proponents say it is in their — and the consumer’s — interest.
The issue of “fast lanes” gained public traction after ISP Verizon and video streaming service Netflix made public attacks on one another, with Netflix blaming Verizon for poor service and Verizon saying the problem was on Netflix’s end.
Eventually the FCC stepped in to play referee and voted to go ahead with the “fast lane.” In an attempt to find out what the public thought of the recent rulings allowing the “fast lanes,” the agency opened up public commenting and has received more than 670,000 comments regarding the issue.
The deadline for commenting was supposed to be Tuesday at 11:59 p.m., however Brendan Sasso of the National Journal tweeted that the agency extended the deadline to Friday because of the congestion.