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Vocal critic of net neutrality, Ajit Pai, set to become new FCC Chairman

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K

Killthee

helped a brotha out on multiple separate occasions!
Trump said to elevate Ajit Pai to FCC chairman

President Donald Trump will tap Ajit Pai as his pick to lead the FCC in the new administration, elevating the sitting GOP commissioner to the top spot overseeing the nation's communications industry, according to two industry sources familiar with decision.

The announcement could come as soon as this afternoon, the sources said. Pai, a Barack Obama nominee who has served as the senior FCC Republican for more than three years, could take the new role immediately and wouldn't require approval by the Senate because he was already confirmed to serve at the agency.

A spokesman for Pai declined to comment and the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
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By contrast, Pai is already a familiar name in tech and telecom policy debates. He’s a fierce and vocal critic of many regulations passed by the commission's Democratic majority, including the 2015 net neutrality rules that require internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally and are opposed by the major broadband companies. As chairman, Pai will be able to start the process of undoing the net neutrality order and pursuing other deregulatory efforts.
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Pai and fellow GOP Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, for example, said last month that they will “seek to revisit” the net neutrality rules “as soon as possible,” and Pai said in a December speech he believes 2017 is the best opportunity in the last decade to advance conservative principles. In September, he outlined a “Digital Empowerment Agenda” — a four-point plan he says will help spur investment in internet networks and close the digital divide between rich and poor. The approach seeks to expand access to mobile broadband and reduce regulatory barriers to broadband deployment.
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Here's excerpts from his speech last month.

Pai is the commission's senior Republican and could end up being the FCC chairman, at least on an interim basis until Trump chooses a long-term chair.

"I’m optimistic that last month’s election will prove to be an inflection point—and that during the Trump Administration, we will shift from playing defense at the FCC to going on offense," Pai said in a speech yesterday before the Free State Foundation in Washington, DC, said. The commission "need to remove outdated and unnecessary regulations... We need to fire up the weed whacker and remove those rules that are holding back investment, innovation, and job creation," he also said.

Pai has consistently opposed consumer protection rules that the FCC's current Democratic majority imposed on ISPs, including the net neutrality order that forbids blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization.

"On the day that the Title II [net neutrality] Order was adopted, I said that 'I don’t know whether this plan will be vacated by a court, reversed by Congress, or overturned by a future Commission. But I do believe that its days are numbered,'" Pai said. "Today, I am more confident than ever that this prediction will come true. And I’m hopeful that beginning next year, our general regulatory approach will be a more sober one that is guided by evidence, sound economic analysis, and a good dose of humility."

The FCC imposed its net neutrality rules by reclassifying ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. Pai said that "there was no evidence of systemic failure in the Internet marketplace," though he did not mention that the FCC's data shows that many parts of the US have little or no competition for high-speed broadband. Pai called the Title II reclassification "public-utility regulation," saying it "was a solution that wouldn’t work for a problem that didn’t exist." But Pai's opposition to net neutrality rules is not strictly tied to Title II: he also voted against a weaker version of net neutrality in 2014, months before the commission decided to use Title II in order to impose stronger rules that would be upheld in court.

Once Trump is president and Republicans take the FCC's majority, the commission could start the process of overturning the rules or simply decline to enforce them vigorously. Republicans in Congress could also overturn the rules or replace them with weaker ones without fear of a presidential veto.

http://arstechnica.com/information-...et-neutralitys-days-are-numbered-under-trump/
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F

Foffy

Banned
Dat neoliberal War on Public keeps marching on.

Commoditize everything, America. Try and make a society where there's no such thing as a society.
 
B

BatDan

Bane? Get them on board, I'll call it in.
Anyone care to defend this?

A campaign that could only succeed through the freedom of the internet, and their success story is going to take it away. Congratulations alt-right, you played yourselves.
 
R

Roland_Gunner

Member
Foffy said:
Dat neoliberal War on Public keeps marching on.

Commoditize everything, America. Try and make a society where there's no such thing as a society.
Click to expand...

So we all agree that the word neo-liberal has lost all meaning now right? The highlighted text has Pai specifically saying this is part of a movement to extend conservative values regarding regulation.
 
V

valkillmore

Member
Stinkles said:
Neo Gaf is chugging. Is there some other game and entertainment oriented forum I can go to that loads crazy fast. like, 4-times faster?
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You don't subscribe to the Gaming Talk package? It's only $4.99 and comes w GAF Gold, 25% faster connection to the site.
 
R

ramoisdead

Member
Thanks a lot. Fucking ridiculous.

I hope they charged the trolls on Reddit and 4chan thousands of dollars a month to access their sites.
 
F

Foffy

Banned
Roland_Gunner said:
So we all agree that the word neo-liberal has lost all meaning now right? The highlighted text has Pai specifically saying this is part of a movement to extend conservative values regarding regulation.
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ne·o·lib·er·al
ˌnēōˈlibərəl/
adjective
1.
relating to a modified form of liberalism tending to favor free-market capitalism.

I was referring to the problem of private commodification that negatively impacts public wellbeing. Of course this overlaps with conservative market cultish fallacies.
 
N

nintendoman58

Member
Well, Tom Wheeler had a change of heart after the mass amount of comments that he got when he tried to incorporate fast and slow lanes, maybe this guy will too.
 
T

tuxfool

Banned
nintendoman58 said:
Well, Tom Wheeler had a change of heart after the mass amount of comments that he got when he tried to incorporate fast and slow lanes, maybe this guy will too.
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No. These guys are ideologues, they don't actually think, or consider real world data. That includes complaints.
 
Trojita

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
norinrad said:
Pretty much everyone he has picked so far has been some sort of a villain.
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Every one of them appointed to business or economics focused agencies want to remove consumer protection rules, even the bare minimum we have.
 
N

nintendoman58

Member
tuxfool said:
No. These guys are ideologues, they don't actually think, or consider real world data. That includes complaints.
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Pretty sure he'll be forced to read the comments of millions when they're opened and at least acknowledge them.

Again, people thought the same thing when Tom Wheeler was chosen, so make sure to stand your ground, call your senators, etc.
 
S

sangreal

Member
nintendoman58 said:
Well, Tom Wheeler had a change of heart after the mass amount of comments that he got when he tried to incorporate fast and slow lanes, maybe this guy will too.
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Pai was a party to all of those comments, he doesn't give a shit. In conservative fantasy land, net neutrality is about the government trying to regulate the internet

Hopefully Trump accidentally picks a reasonable person for the 3rd republican
 
O

Ogodei

Member
nintendoman58 said:
Well, Tom Wheeler had a change of heart after the mass amount of comments that he got when he tried to incorporate fast and slow lanes, maybe this guy will too.
Click to expand...

He'll consider each public comment to be worth $1, and weigh that against the amount of corporate "comments."

Or just get Congress to pass a law banning internet from being considered Title II.

Silicon Valley's going to fight this just like they fought SOPA and the old net neutrality proposal, though, so it's only a subsection of corporate America that will fight for this (namely, Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner, and Verizon. Even content providers are going to be leery because they'll be beholden to ISPs).
 
N

nintendoman58

Member
Ogodei said:
Silicon Valley's going to fight this just like they fought SOPA and the old net neutrality proposal, though, so it's only a subsection of corporate America that will fight for this (namely, Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner, and Verizon. Even content providers are going to be leery because they'll be beholden to ISPs).
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Exactly. Don't forget that this is a fight they're outnumbered in. The amount of companies and corporations for Net Neutrality far exceed those against it.

It's not going down without a fight.
 
E

ezekial45

Banned
Won't this cripple or severely stymie the traffic for a number of tech companies? This whole things seems like a disaster that SV should be firmly against.
 
M

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
FantasticMrFoxdie said:
where the fuck you at silicon valley
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Getting ready to rake in the monies is where a lot of them are at.

Silicon Valley's going to fight this just like they fought SOPA and the old net neutrality proposal, though, so it's only a subsection of corporate America that will fight for this (namely, Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner, and Verizon. Even content providers are going to be leery because they'll be beholden to ISPs).
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In all honesty, I'm somewhat curious as to the changes/updates in the Pro/Against Net Neutrality issue over the last couple of years.

Obviously somewhat speculative, but I somewhat remember seeing some of the bigger silicon valley corporations 'switch' over to being against.
 
G

Guevara

Member
Seems like half of Silicon Valley will profit immensely.

Facebook's been doing scumming things for years, like their Free Basics thing in India. They are going to love the end of net neutrality. One day, "the internet" will just be Facebook for billions of people.

Google, Netflix, Amazon, etc. can afford to stay in the fast lane.

It will be a tax on new startups, but it will also reward the winners.
 
N

nintendoman58

Member
ezekial45 said:
Won't this cripple or severely stymie the traffic for a number of tech companies? This whole things seems like a disaster that SV should be firmly against.
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They are, and they've fought against it before.

Don't think it's something they can easily swat away. Tom Wheeler himself said getting rid of it is not a "slam dunk" for them.

Keep a close eye on what they're doing, and do everything you can as a citizen to voice your concerns.
 
F

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Ajit Paid* was not just a vocal critic, but quite probably the leading actor against it. This is the fox guarding the henhouse. And it's clearly deliberate.

Better be ready to fight with tooth and nail for everything you hold true and fair during the next four years, because this is just the aperitif.

*Even Android's autocorrect knows what's up.
 
S

sangreal

Member
ezekial45 said:
Won't this cripple or severely stymie the traffic for a number of tech companies? This whole things seems like a disaster that SV should be firmly against.
Click to expand...

nah, they're happy to get their products zero-rated while any up and coming competition can't
 
Duxxy3

Duxxy3

Member
Nice job morons. Enjoy not getting your jobs back, losing your healthcare and losing all consumer protection. Well done.
 
A

AstroNut325

Member
We did it!

Edit:
Funky Papa said:
Ajit Paid* was not just a vocal critic, but quite probably the leading actor against it. This is the fox guarding the henhouse. And it's clearly deliberate.

Better be ready to fight with tooth and nail for everything you hold true and fair during the next four years, because this is just the aperitif.

*Even Android's autocorrect knows what's up.
Click to expand...
LOL... wait... I should be crying!
 
K

Killthee

helped a brotha out on multiple separate occasions!
Funky Papa said:
Ajit Paid* was not just a vocal critic, but quite probably the leading actor against it. This is the fox guarding the henhouse. And it's clearly deliberate.

Better be ready to fight with tooth and nail for everything you hold true and fair during the next four years, because this is just the aperitif.

*Even Android's autocorrect knows what's up.
Click to expand...
You're absolutely right. Mind fixing the thread title?
 
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