The story is worth a read, and highlights how former FCC CIO David Bray and FCC media relations head Mark Wigfield repeatedly fed false information about the nonexistent attack to reporters, then used those (incorrect) stories to further prop up their flimsy claims about the DDOS: "Bray is not the only FCC official last year to push dubious accounts to reporters. Mark Wigfield, the FCCs deputy director of media relations, told Politico: there were similar DDoS attacks back in 2014 right after the Jon Oliver [sic] episode. According to emails between Bray and FedScoop, the FCCs Office of Media Relations likewise fed cooked-up details about an unverified cyberattack to the Wall Street Journal. The Journal apparently swallowed the FCCs revised history of the incident, reporting that the agency also revealed that the 2014 show had been followed by DDoS attacks too, as if it were a fact that had been concealed for several years. After it was published, the Journals article, authored by tech reporter John McKinnon, was forwarded by Bray to reporters at other outlets and portrayed as a factual telling of events. Bray also emailed the story to several private citizens who had contacted the FCC with questions and concerns about the comment systems issues." The story isn't going to get much mainstream traction thanks to numerous other instances of cultural idiocy we're all currently soaking in, but it's fairly amazing all the same. In short, the FCC appears to have completely concocted a fake DDOS attack in a ham-fisted effort to try and downplay the massive public opposition to its extremely-unpopular policies. Of course that's pretty standard behavior for an agency that also blocked a law enforcement inquiry into fraud during the public comment period, likely also an effort to downplay massive public opposition to the repeal. It's also pretty standard behavior from a Trump administration that enjoys using bullshit to distract from the fact that countless policies (like repealing net neutrality) run in stark, violent contrast to the admin's "populist" election message. This isn't likely to be the end of this story, and more details are likely to surface in the looming lawsuits against the FCC attempting to restore net neutrality.