Ideally, the U.S. public is supposed to be able to comment on government policy proceedings, and the government is supposed to listen to that input. Of course, it doesn’t really work that way: For …

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/25192458

Ideally, the U.S. public is supposed to be able to comment on government policy proceedings, and the government is supposed to listen to that input.

Of course, it doesn’t really work that way: For years we’ve noted how U.S. regulatory comment proceedings are full of bots and fake comments from industries trying to game regulators, and make shitty policy (giant mergers, mindless deregulation, the elimination of consumer protection) seem like it has broad public support (remember when dead people opposed net neutrality?).

Unsurprisingly the U.S. hasn’t done anything to seriously rein in this problem. And when officials do act, it tends to be largely toothless, resulting in the problem getting steadily worse.

And that was before AI made it significantly easier for bad actors to quickly automate this sort of gamesmanship. Washington State has been exploring the RADICAL SOCIALIST ANTIFA EXTREMIST idea of having the state’s rich actually pay their taxes. That’s not been received particularly well by the extraction class, which has been making empty promises about leaving the state.

We later get this tidbit:

“More than 60,000 people signed in against SB 6346 when it received a rushed hearing in the Senate,” Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, said in a Feb. 16 statement. “That is so impressive that Democrats have tried to say bots are responsible, even though the Legislature blocks bots.”

Centralia? That’s the equivalent of flyover country along I-5. (I have driven through Centralia numerous times but never found any reason to stop … it’s basically Chehalis.)

  • skeptomatic@lemmy.ca
    4·
    6 hours ago

    I made a separate account on Instagram reels and followed only Donald Trump to see what the feed would look like (So you could argue, fake account). I’m older-ish maybe compared to many on here.
    The bots and the wannabe-cool-kids and the shills and the paid actors in the comments sections of those posts, praising DJT as Jesus, etc.
    And otherwise just vitriol and bile and bullshit towards “liberals”, calling them a “disease”, claiming they have the hardest job in life which is to “not raise [my] child to be liberal”, etc…
    Y’all are fucking fucked. I’m not scared of any person, and that scares me.
    Sorry but I hink this might take more than complaining about inequality.
    Y’all better hit the chin-up bar, plus extra.

  • 4am@lemmy.zip
    19·
    9 hours ago

    Oh you mean just like they did with the FCC comments about codifying net neutrality?

    • wheezy@lemmy.mlEnglish
      10·
      8 hours ago

      We can’t get child rapists prosecuted in this country if they’re a part of the ruling class.

      You want something changed - I’m pretty sure we’ve crossed the Rubicon. That “freedom isn’t free” shit the stupid conservatives always say, well, it is true. But they were never gonna be the ones to fight for it.