What is dear_fcc?

Dear FCC is a tool built by the Electronic Frontier Foundation that lets organizations run their own letter-writing campaigns to submit public comments to the Federal Communications Commission. Instead of sending people to the FCC's own comment system directly, an advocacy group can set up a custom web form where supporters choose from pre-written language, personalize their message, and then the system handles submitting all those comments to the FCC on the backend. The way it works is straightforward. An organizer configures two files: one describing the specific FCC proceeding they are commenting on, and another defining the comment template shown to users. The template can include multiple choice options where people pick from suggested language, options that let people either pick a suggestion or write their own, and randomized selections that vary the wording from person to person so the comments don't all read identically. When someone submits a comment through the form, it goes into a queue and gets sent to the FCC's filing system. This is clearly built for advocacy organizations running campaigns around FCC rulemakings, net neutrality debates, media ownership rules, or any proceeding where public input matters. The README references the "Restoring Internet Freedom" proceeding specifically, which was the FCC's 2017 net neutrality repeal, so this tool was used during that fight. One practical detail worth noting: the FCC's electronic filing system limits how fast comments can be submitted, so if a campaign generates a huge volume, the system can export everything to a CSV file for bulk upload through a separate FCC form. That export clears the queue, so you need to save the output. The CSV is capped at five megabytes to match the FCC's own file size limit, and if you have more comments than that, you run the export again. The project uses Docker for deployment, which means it packages everything needed to run into a self-contained setup. Configuration is minimal, copy the example files, fill in your campaign details, and start it up.