Less Than 1% Of Comments Sent To The FCC Opposed Net Neutrality

A newly released study executed by the Sunlight Foundation of hundreds of thousands of comments submitted to the FCC by the public found that the vast majority spoke in favor of net neutrality. The group estimates that “less than 1 percent of comments were clearly opposed to net neutrality.”

There is wiggle room in the data, given that some people are not clear writers, and could have argued in several directions at once. For TechCrunch’s own analysis of the comments, head here.

The data indicates that there is little in the way of vocal grassroots support in opposition of net neutrality. Read into that what you will.

There is another piece of the foundation’s report that is worth considering. According to the group, with issues of this magnitude, it is “not unusual for form letter contributions to make up in excess of 90 percent of a docket’s total submissions.” In the case of net neutrality, according to the foundation, something akin to 60 percent of the comments submitted were form letters, a far lower percentage.

That fact implies that hundreds of thousands of individuals took the time to write their own comments on the issue. The foundation’s analysis was based on a large, but incomplete, sample, but presuming their ratios hold up for the full, 1.1 million comments submitted during the first comment period, more than 400,000 comments were composed by individuals during the first comment period.

The impact of the comments remains to be seen.

The FCC recently extended the current net neutrality comment period, by three days, to September. If you have something to say, you have just under two weeks to say it.