Ajit Pai to exit FCC Chairman position alongside Biden's inauguration in January
Notorious for his efforts in removal of Net Neutrality regulations, Ajit Pai will step down from his position as FCC Chairman as Biden takes office in January.
Throughout the Trump administration’s tenure, deregulation of various fields of industry were a common and relentless effort. In some cases, it could be argued to be worthwhile. In others, well... Net Neutrality rules prohibiting specialized pricing based on internet services were removed, giving power to service providers to handle network traffic prioritization and packaging as they pleased. The orchestrator behind removal of these protections? Largely none other than FCC Chairman and former ISP lobbyist Ajit Pai, and now as Trump’s presidency is coming to an end and President Elect Joe Biden is readying for his term, Pai has announced he will be stepping down from his position.
Word of Ajit Pai’s exit from the FCC was announced fairly recently, as reported by The Verge. According to a statement from Pai, his exit will take place on January 20 as Biden takes office in the White House as President of the United States.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve at the Federal Communications Commission, including as Chairman of the FCC over the past four years,” Pai wrote in his announcement. “To be the first Asian-American to chair the FCC has been a particular privilege. As I often say: only in America.”
Also, only in America did Pai use his position to spearhead efforts to eliminate Obama-Era net neutrality protections and rules regarding the packaging, pricing of internet services, and the ability of service providers to prioritize network traffic based on the source of traffic. It was arguably a heavy blow dealt to fair and anti-predatory business practices which allowed possibilities such as a cable company like Comcast to throttle bandwidth from opposing services like Netflix. For now, Comcast is content to expand data cap policies as we enter an era of higher data use than ever. Nonetheless, it should then come as little surprise that as Obama’s Vice President Joe Biden is preparing to take office, Ajit Pai likely sees it’s probably time to tuck tail and run.
As we await Biden’s entrance into office in January 2021, it would appear that at least one part of the tide is turning. And as Ajit Pai steps down, it’s probably not the last we’ll hear of Net Neutrality policies he worked so hard to undo.
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replyTJ Denzer posted a new article, Ajit Pai to exit FCC Chairman position alongside Biden's inauguration in January
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Good fucking riddance, condescending asshole
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I know it won't happen but I really hope that there is progress towards reclassifying broadband as a utility. Then I can tell Comcast to fuckoff with their new datacaps by switching to another service that is just leasing their lines.
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At least upheld at the Appellate Court, the FCC absolutely has the power to flip Internet from Class I to II or back as they see it, but they have to make sure the change is not made in an "arbitrary and capricious" manner. This just means the FCC has to put out a strong rational of why to go back to net neutrality which is certainly possible under a Dem-controlled panel but will take time to make, publish for public comment, and review.
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Annoyingly, shortly after the lockdown started, there was a request for comment that the FCC had been ordered to do by the appellate court to justify if it took in appropriate concerns on public safety when it last reclassified. (The CA wildfires of 2019 had happen while the case was litigating and that's when Verizon's practices knocked first responders off high bandwidth tiers, limiting their ability, so this was something the court ordered them to address). There was a push for people to comment that, hey, net neutrality better enables WFH and helps to avoid the COVID spread, making it a public safety issue.
I don't know how many such comments were made, but I do know the net result is that FCC say that they found they had considered public safety appropriately in that rulemaking when they issued a decision in August or something which of course is BS.
I am sure the Dem-run FCC would be able to fairly justify that, but you can expect an immediate lawsuit from the Comcasts to challenge it once the rule is issued.
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Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww shucks. I hope the door kicks his ass on the way out!
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Hope he gets lost in his big ass mug.
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Going to take a shit in his honor right now.
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The thing is liberals probably all hate him, and conservatives don’t know who he is. Therefore, he is probably hated by everyone who know who he is.
Fuck him so much. -
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I'm sure a nice cushy job with an internet company is waiting for him.
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Everyone thinking he’s just going to disappear is sadly wrong. He’ll be instantly lobbying in the private sector with a whole new level of influence and authority. The back room wheeling and dealing and influence peddling with GOP power-brokers will be colossal.
But I understand everyone’s immediate sense of relief. :( -
GET THE FUCK OUT
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