FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Will Step Down on January 20 (theverge.com) 103
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced plans to depart the commission when President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20th. Pai has served on the FCC since 2012. From a report: "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 said in a statement. "To be the first Asian-American to chair the FCC has been a particular privilege. As I often say: only in America."
Pai was appointed chairman in 2017 and served for the duration of the Trump administration, overseeing an unusually active period in federal telecom policy. He began his term with the controversial decision to roll back Title II classification, undoing the net neutrality rules put in place under President Obama. More recently, Pai oversaw the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, which he called "a unique opportunity to speed up the deployment of 5G throughout the United States." Pai also implemented new measures to fight robocalls and established a national suicide prevention hotline number. Pai's tenure coincided with a significant shift in Republican telecom policy, with Republican commissioners like Brendan Carr advocating for a more aggressive FCC role to regulating social media platforms.
Pai was appointed chairman in 2017 and served for the duration of the Trump administration, overseeing an unusually active period in federal telecom policy. He began his term with the controversial decision to roll back Title II classification, undoing the net neutrality rules put in place under President Obama. More recently, Pai oversaw the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, which he called "a unique opportunity to speed up the deployment of 5G throughout the United States." Pai also implemented new measures to fight robocalls and established a national suicide prevention hotline number. Pai's tenure coincided with a significant shift in Republican telecom policy, with Republican commissioners like Brendan Carr advocating for a more aggressive FCC role to regulating social media platforms.
Fuck Ajit Pai (Score:5, Insightful)
Fuck Ajit Pai
Re:Fuck Ajit Pai (Score:5, Insightful)
This announcement was immediately followed by a press release announcing the appointment of Ajit Pai to the Board of Directors of T-Mobile/Sprint and his induction into the National Telecom Lobbyists Hall of Fame..
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Think they'll throw him a percentage of the hundreds of billions of dollars he's after earning them these past few years?
I'm not generally a fan of capital punishment, but I am willing to make exceptions.
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Most of the people in the capital should be punished...
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Bye (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't let the revolving door hit you too hard on the way out.
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Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Halleluuuujah! [youtube.com]
Re:Bye (Score:5, Insightful)
He probably have to choose between ending his assignment himself or getting fired.
Re:Bye (Score:4, Informative)
He probably have to choose between ending his assignment himself or getting fired.
Well his chairmanship is over with the new president anyway (although Biden could technically ask him to retain the chairmanship, but it always goes to someone with the same party affiliation as the president). So he would effectively be sidelined anyway with no way to really affect FCC policy, so why stay on? I'm sure he already has a nice, cushy private sector job waiting for him. He sure earned it.
Re:Bye (Score:4, Informative)
No, you are incorrect. Obama nominate him for commissioner, at the request of Mitch McConnell (there can only be 3 per party, 1 of whom is generally the chairman, meaning the other 2 have to be of the other party, since we only have 2 real parties in the US). Trump then elevated Pai to chairman once he took office.
Irony. (Score:5, Informative)
I always love it when someone starts off saying how wrong someone is, and then starts spewing a bunch of false shit that is easily verified to be false [wikipedia.org] in about 10 seconds of searching.
In 2012, the FCC Chairman was Julius Genachowski.
Chairman Genachowski was succeeded by Tom Wheeler in November of 2013.
Now it's true that Pai was appointed to the FCC as a commissioner by Obama, in a gentlemens' agreement with Congress that the FCC will have a 3-2 split, with the President's party getting the majority - there is no legal impetus for this, but it's done out of tradition just like many other commissions in the Federal government.
Because the open seat was a minority seat, he basically asked the Senate opposition leadership for a name, and they gave him Ajit Pai.
Maybe don't start spouting off about how "there is all sorts of wrong in this" when the majority of your statement was even more wrong and leads you to wrong conclusions.
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While I don't think anyone ever though Obama was going to be the Second Coming of FDR, I must admit to being surprised that he was just Bush Lite. In retrospect though, one does not have a meteoric rise in Chicago politics if one is not already bought-and-paid-for.
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Re: Bye (Score:2)
Yea... I would have modded as flamebait personally. :)
But I wouldn't lose sleep over it. The moderation system on this site, like it's citizens give it character!
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Re:Bye (Score:5, Funny)
Don't let the revolving door hit you too hard on the way out.
Because WE DON'T WANT ASS PRINTS ON OUR NEW DOOR!
Good Riddance (Score:3)
Though I'm sure he's only stepping down because he's positive whoever gets installed in his place will be just as big of a corporate shill.
Re:Good Riddance (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not nearly cynical enough. He's either got a job lined up with one of the companies he's regulated or he'll be a consultant (lobbyist) for them.
Re:Good Riddance (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Good Riddance (Score:4, Insightful)
While I really wish this issue wasn't a political one (and for years it wasn't), it's a safer bet that whoever Biden picks will be more pro-consumer.
If the Senate even confirms them. If the GOP wins both runoffs in GA (the likely outcomes, honestly) I wouldn't be surprised to see them (or at least a strong minority of the party) stonewall or play hardball on most of Biden's appointments/nominations, since "stolen election" and all that bullshit. The old "he's not my president" game, but played on a Congressional level.
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While I really wish this issue wasn't a political one (and for years it wasn't), it's a safer bet that whoever Biden picks will be more pro-consumer.
If the Senate even confirms them. If the GOP wins both runoffs in GA (the likely outcomes, honestly) I wouldn't be surprised to see them (or at least a strong minority of the party) stonewall or play hardball on most of Biden's appointments/nominations, since "stolen election" and all that bullshit. The old "he's not my president" game, but played on a Congressional level.
The house and Democrats have been playing almost the exact same game with Trump for 4 years, except they didn't have the Senate's "advise and consent" role to mess with him with. They impeached him for Pete's sake, over the interpretation of a phone call which pretty much requires that Joe Biden is guilty of corruption if you really think it's a problem, and even with the Mueller investigation didn't find anything they went looking for...
Also, I don't think the Georgia run offs are a shoe in for Republica
And don't let the door hit your ass... (Score:3)
on the way out. Or do. I don't care. Just go.
Obligitory Wizard of Oz (Score:3)
Here's a random youtube video clip from the Wizard of Oz:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
You know the one.
Look like things are moving along.
Ryan Fenton
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You're a few weeks late with that. [washingtonpost.com]
Right back to the cable companies... (Score:5, Insightful)
Curly Bill said it best (Score:2)
A man can dream... (Score:2)
That this corrupt asshole will be sent to prison, but we know better...
What a douche!!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Should read .. "He over saw Mass rape of consumers by destroying net neutrality. He will return to slime from which he came and be handsomely rewarded by the Big Telco's for a job well done." May the sleeze ball rot in hell forever.
So he will be ex-communicated? (Score:1)
The revolving door still revolves. Normalcy is returning, as if it ever left...
Good Riddance! (Score:2)
Enough said.
Bye, Bye, American Pai (Score:1)
Getting out while the getting is good.
Why is he leaving? (Score:5, Funny)
Didn't his boss tell him that he was re-elected for another 4-year term? I thought it was just a matter of sorting this out with the courts.
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Didn't his boss tell him that he was re-elected for another 4-year term? I thought it was just a matter of sorting this out with the courts.
Given that even Trump-appointed judges are laughing these claims out of court... maybe Ajit has already decided to stop following the guy on Twitter.
Re: Why is he leaving? (Score:2)
But they aren't... they are basically dismissing them for missing evidence. And the cases aren't even being filed for fraud, let alone massive fraud, so not sure what is there to appeal at the SC level.
That cases without evidence should not be dismissed? That voters should be ignored based on feds overriding state rules post election which still don't result in election fraud?
Re: Why is he leaving? (Score:1)
Itâ(TM)s called legal strategy, you want the case at SCOTUS ASAP so instead of having each court level try the case which would take years, you make minor procedural errors and then appeal based that you didnâ(TM)t get a fair shake to present the case in court. In most cases this would get your cases remanded down again but in this case they can claim that a decision is time sensitive and a decision needs to be made in the higher courts or else...
This happens in electoral and healthcare cases, it
Re: Why is he leaving? (Score:2)
Then you should be able to give 3 examples where something that isn't alleged nor grieved was appealed and heard. I will wait.
I know what you are talking about but it's not remotely similar. Appeals apply to factors within the scope of the case, not outside the case. You can't file a case for insider trading and appeal to try a case for drug distribution or add evidence. They need to first file a case for fraud, irregularities, and/or tampering to appeal its loss. I think out of 30 cases, there were 2
Re:Why is he leaving? (Score:5, Informative)
He was an Obama appointee actually...
An Obama rubberstamp, actually. He was suggested to Obama by McConnell. By law there cannot be more than 3 members of the same party as commissioner, and commissioners require Senate approval. And his term would have been up in June of next year anyway.
Remember, Pai was against such outrageous things as regulating fees for prison phone calls, which could run as high as $14 a minute (with prisoners doing work while incarcerated make less than $1 an hour on average). And let's not forget the net neutrality comment debacle where he ignored the literal millions of fake "pro" net neutrality comments.
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Appointed as a member of the FCC by Obama, on the recommendation of the republican-controlled senate. And most importantly, appointed chairman of the FCC by Trump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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This. Let's also note that Obama was following historical convention when he nominated Pai based on McConnel's recommendation, to balance the party representations on the board.
Re:Why is he leaving? (Score:4, Insightful)
This. Let's also note that Obama was following historical convention when he nominated Pai based on McConnel's recommendation, to balance the party representations on the board.
Two thoughts come to mind:
1. Trump and McConnell have takes the lists of historical conventions and run them through a double-super-duper V8 powered high efficiency micro-shredder
2. Fuck McConnell
Biden still needs McConnell's Senate (Score:2)
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He was appointed to the commission by Obama as an olive branch to the GOP. Trump boosted him up to chairman.
Quitting before he is Fired (Score:2)
Good Riddance.
Net Neutrality Impact? (Score:3, Informative)
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The negative impact that I have personally experienced is that my bill with Spectrum goes up 5-10% each year for the same service. Now this has been going on for much longer than the past 4 years.. but wasn't the "deregulation" meant to spur competition and lower costs for consumers?
So basically, nothing changed.. the consumers still are getting screwed but I'm sure someone that already had plenty of money is getting just a bit more.
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There is an argument to be made that the Internet doesn't exist as we knew it, but that trend was taking place with or without Aijit's decisions. Most of the changes we're seeing online now are from clamoring corporate or special interest groups to clamp down on wrong think or opinions they don't agree with, in combination with an ever growing group of morons that discovered the ability to place their own loudspeaker into huge echo-chambers and keep feeding their conspiracy fueled nightmare versions of rea
Re:Net Neutrality Impact? (Score:5, Interesting)
Before Title II was rolled back, everyone here was convinced that doing so would be the end of the Internet as we know it, and this was a major reason why you all hate him so much. Serious question - what has been the negative impact since then? Does the Internet still exist as we knew it?
Streaming services are being charged to not be blocked from big carrier's customers, who are already paying for that access. This double charging is reflected in the price of streaming services, which you might notice has been going up.
Re: Net Neutrality Impact? (Score:1)
The price of streaming is going up because of content conglomeration, most mergers greenlit by the Obama admin.
You donâ(TM)t like it, you donâ(TM)t have to subscribe to mainstream content generators. Theyâ(TM)re all shit anyway. Plenty of alternative sources of really great content to be found. And pretty cheap too, even for streaming.
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Both can be true. I said nothing about whether or not I like streaming services. Try to think more deeply about the things you say.
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You mean besides fee structures going up, reduced competition, providers being able to put caps in place arbitrarily and without oversight on "unlimited" services, further consolidation in the telecom sector, etc?
He's a shill for the telecoms, and they got everything they were looking for. Expect him to be named to a board seat at one of these telecoms within a month of him leaving, which will amount to a post-hoc thank you for fucking all of us so they can line their wallets a little thicker without provi
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You forgot a couple of multi-billion dollar gifts to the wired telecoms for supposedly supplying broadband access to underserved areas, and his refusal to ding recipients of previous grants for not having complied with even the minimum requirements.
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Does the Internet still exist as we knew it?
Probably not exactly, but the big problems with getting rid of net neutrality (package-based internet etc) aren't really something the telcos would invest in for a short-term run. They know a democratic administration could easily put net neutrality rules back in place without a law from congress.
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Yeah, you right-- No disruptive new technology sprouted to improve it more rapidly. A garage startup didn't create a Youtube-killer app streaming 4k and VR content. I've got the same cable modem I owned 10 years ago because a new standard has not been proposed that would increase my available bandwidth.
The concern that Ajit was going to destroy the internet was a straw man argument. That's why he produced that video [youtube.com] of him promising you'll be able to post sti
American Pai (Score:3)
American Pai is that dude you get on the phone when you call Verizon's All-American support team, but to the max.
King support agent.
Rock and hard place (Score:3)
The "retirement plan" for political appointees is being a consultant in the industries they regulate. That is beyond absurd.
I can see why we reached this point. We cannot possibly expect to restrict people's freedom to seek employment. That, and also we usually want to have people with prior industry experience. But adding them together makes for really terrible results with continuously eroding oversight for the people.
Maybe we can do better, like introducing "no compete" clauses, requiring them not to seek employment for 10 years, while they can be paid at a reasonable rate. Giving a salary for doing essentially nothing might be a better compromise than letting them collude with the industry.
Rage quit (Score:3)
Y-y-you can't fire me, I QUIT!!!11!!
He can hear the bullet with his name on it coming for him. This is just a pre-emptive move in an attempt to save face.
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Translation:
Y-y-you can't fire me, I QUIT!!!11!!
He can hear the bullet with his name on it coming for him. This is just a pre-emptive move in an attempt to save face.
His term was up in June anyway. Thinking about it, I see this as something else: this is just one more thing that Biden will have to deal with. You've got unconfirmed people acting in leadership capacities all across the federal government, even more positions unfilled that all need appointing and confirming, you've got a global pandemic raging and a struggling economy due to it, and are very likely to see a hostile, stonewalling senate. We aren't transitioning, the outgoing administration is doing every
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There is some small glimmer however that the Senate won't be so stupid and destructive. I read where there are at least 21 GOP senators wh
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My previous post is a bit of a tinfoil hat post (since i think it is actually common for the chairman to step down when a new administration comes in). But as for those 21 GOP senators who are fed up, if they haven't started talking publicly yet, they won't until it is clear that Trump's power and influence has waned. They are going to keep getting on their knees in front of him (reader's choice on the precise meaning of that) at least until the GA senate runoffs. If the mainstream news stops covering hi
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Oh, the new media will be covering Rump for the next several years of criminal charges in New York and other states.
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t's off topic, but I think he hated being president (I'm in the camp that believes he didn't even want to be president). Don't get me wrong, he loved the power, but I think he hated that he couldn't use that power as freely as he could as the head of a family business, or the fact that everything he did or everywhere he went he was scrutinized. Once he tastes freedom he's not going to want to go back, but he will play it up like he does to keep getting views, "campaign" donations (he has a lot of campaign debt to pay back), etc.
I would tend to agree with this. He seems to have thought 'President' meant 'King' or maybe even 'god', depending on his level of narcissism and/or arrogance. It doesn't work that way obviously.
I've also thought that the GOP backed him thinking they could just 'control' him, use him as a figurehead, and that he'd actually listen to them, knowing nothing about the job himself, and they'd get everything they wanted, and he'd take all the heat for things that didn't work out or that no one liked. None of that
Re: Rage quit (Score:2)
They got themselves a nice new Supreme Court with justices who will be around for a long while, and were able to get some good regulatory capture in places like the FCC, Interior, and BLM. I'd say they are perfectly happy with the deal. You know McConnell is.
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Wait (Score:2, Funny)
Biden was elected!?
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Wait for it. A couple of weeks to go before the Electoral College vote.
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Wait for it. A couple of weeks to go before the Electoral College vote.
Aww, that's cute.You really think that faithess electors could change the outcome?
Don't hold your breath. That has never happened, not even close. [fairvote.org]
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If it actually happened, or if that plan to get state legislatures to overturn certified vote results without any real evidence actually worked, you would have legit Civil War 2.0 on your hands.
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He printed a lot of votes, but no he hasn't been actually selected by the EC.
It was a pretty huge sham, but it looks like you can basically print your way to victory these days. Guess we will have to do it again in four years and to the winnings of those who print the most.
He [Biden] "printed a lot of votes?" Evidence please? Oh wait. You don't have any.
One of Trump's top DHS officials Christopher Krebs had this to say about the election:
59 election security experts all agree, ‘in every case of which we are aware, these claims [of vote-count manipulation] either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.’
And this, from Krebs' agency:
The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history [...] There is no evidence that any voting system del
Thank goodness (Score:3)
lolwut? (Score:3)
"To be the first Asian-American to chair the FCC has been a particular privilege. As I often say: only in America."
Well that might be because the FCC exists 'only in America' so WTF are you talking about?
I actually hope he never works again (Score:2)
NEVER FORGET (Score:5, Informative)
Shit Pai is a fraud and a cheat, his underlings refused to investigate one of the largest acts of impersonation in US history.
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filin... [fcc.gov] For example, former president Obama complaining about his policies.
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filin... [fcc.gov] For example, current president Trump posting the same thing.
https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/searc... [fcc.gov] EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND results for that copypasta
Fuck Shit Pai, fuck that piece of lying shit in both eye sockets.
https://www.pewresearch.org/in... [pewresearch.org]
https://www.theverge.com/2017/... [theverge.com]
https://arstechnica.com/tech-p... [arstechnica.com]
https://www.theguardian.com/te... [theguardian.com]
https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
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Why didn't the presidents fire him then if they didn't like his policies?
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Probably something to do with balance of power and such.
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Misread your comment, the Obama one was "Obama" complaining about Obama's policies, when it was a massive botted campaign that impersonated hundreds of thousands of people.
Re: NEVER FORGET (Score:2)
I specifically enjoyed the mention of the proposed action to Mr Pai's visual system, such a use had honestly not occurred to me before. Must take note...
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Do you have the karma modifier for posts hidden? It's been sitting pretty at +5 for a while with them visible.
He's collecting his golden parachute (Score:2)
I'm sure he'll be stepping down to a lucrative board seat, executive appointment, or lobbyist with a major cable or telecommunications company with a 7-digit salary as a reward for services rendered.
Oh no, please don't leave (Score:2)
Signed,
big telecom
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It's not his position to keep, where's the "news"? (Score:1)
The FCC Commissioner serves at the pleasure of the President, just like his many cabinet members and other commission heads - they are political appointments.
The job was not Ajit Pai's to keep, he just offered up his resignation before being asked for it, but it (his resignation) was always assumed when the next President was to sworn-in.
BTW, still waiting for the Internet to melt-down after the FCC fobbed-off Net-Neutrality onto the FTC [slashdot.org] (where it belongs, actually)..
Good riddance (Score:2)
Good Riddance! (Score:1)
Take that big ass coffee mug with you!