There was most definitely an automated (fraudulent) effort, if you doubt it go and see [1] if submissions were made in members of your family's name. I have no idea if it's Comcast doing it, my impression is that's just a catchy name for the site.
There is a complex regex search that the site uses to find copies of "the comment" – I was shocked how many of my family members (not with their actual addresses, but names of actual members of my family) filed brief comments that start out "The unprecedented regulatory power the Obama Administration imposed on the internet is smothering innovation, damaging the American economy and obstructing job creation."
Presumably the text is varied in order to hamper the efforts of people like Comcastroturf that are trying to help quantify the number of these fraudulent comments that were filed.
I have no idea if the volume of these type of comments are enough to constitute a "DoS" attack, let alone DDOS, but the scale is quite grand.
I was shocked how few names I had to try before I found copies of "the comment" in filings in the names of many members of my family. Maybe about 50% hit rate. Higher with a common name.
There is a complex regex search that the site uses to find copies of "the comment" – I was shocked how many of my family members (not with their actual addresses, but names of actual members of my family) filed brief comments that start out "The unprecedented regulatory power the Obama Administration imposed on the internet is smothering innovation, damaging the American economy and obstructing job creation."
Presumably the text is varied in order to hamper the efforts of people like Comcastroturf that are trying to help quantify the number of these fraudulent comments that were filed.
I have no idea if the volume of these type of comments are enough to constitute a "DoS" attack, let alone DDOS, but the scale is quite grand.
I was shocked how few names I had to try before I found copies of "the comment" in filings in the names of many members of my family. Maybe about 50% hit rate. Higher with a common name.
[1]: http://www.comcastroturf.com