Federal auditors want agencies to be more transparent about how they use information collected through the public commenting process, especially as the internet creates new possibilities for fraud and abuse.
The Government Accountability Office launched the investigation last year after lawmakers raised concerns about the integrity of the public comment process at the Federal Communications Commission and other federal agencies. In 2017, the commission received some 22 million comments on a controversial proposal to dismantle Obama-era net neutrality regulations, but researchers determined a significant portion of those comments came from bots and people using stolen identities. A Wall Street Journal investigation later that year found multiple agencies were also plagued by dubious submissions.
Under the law, agencies are required to give the public an opportunity to weigh in on potential new regulations and policy changes, but the process for handling that feedback varies widely across government, according to GAO. Some organizations have clear policies for identifying commenters and analyzing submissions while others do not, auditors said, but agencies often don’t communicate those practices to the public.
“As a result, public users of the comment websites lack information related to data availability and limitations that could affect their ability to use the comment data and effectively participate in the rulemaking process themselves,” auditors said in a report published Friday.
Specifically, auditors said agencies should be more explicit about how they identify users and handle duplicate submissions, and the organizations that don’t already have policies in place need to lay down some guidelines.
Each of the 10 agencies included in the report co ..
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