TelecomTV
  • News
  • Videos
  • Channels
  • Events
  • Directory
  • Webcasts
  • Surveys
  • Debates
  • Perspectives
  • More
  • Directory
  • Webcasts
  • Surveys
  • Debates
  • Perspectives
  • Follow TelecomTV
  • About
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Follow TelecomTV
  • About
  • Help
  • Contact
  • Sign In Register Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
    • Register
  • Search

Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality

Court rules FCC’s Wheeler didn’t overstep authority, but Pai doesn’t care

Ian Scales
By Ian Scales

May 2, 2017

FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai  -  still smiling?     via Flickr  Governor Nikki Haley (Public Domain Mark 1.0)

FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai - still smiling? via Flickr Governor Nikki Haley (Public Domain Mark 1.0)

  • Court upholds Title II classification
  • Pai makes FCC a partisan mouthpiece

Ajit Pai, the chair of the FCC since he was appointed by Trump, looks well on the way to becoming the most hated man in telecoms . Most hated, that is, by ordinary US Internet users, four million of whom wrote to his predecessor asking that he designate broadband as a Title II service, which of course he did.

Not at all hated, it seems, by telcos and cable companies who have nodded approvingly at his moves so far.

As a commissioner, Pai opposed reclassification and since being installed as the FCC chair, he’s been promising to dismantle the net neutrality regulations that Title II has enabled. As part of his warm-up routine he has green-flagged the practice of zero rating  data by ISPs.

In another legal drama, a federal appeals court has just decided to uphold an earlier ruling which found that former FCC chairman Wheeler didn’t overstep his authority in drawing up the rules in the first place… and so it goes on. This is the sort of legal cut and thrust we’ve all grown used to.

But now what has surprised many, is Pai’s apparent Trumpisation. His recent speeches and the documents forwarded from the FCC are now all Trump-stamped with belligerent assertions and laced with conspiracy theory about ‘government takeover of the Internet.’

What used to be a series of stiff announcements sent to us (and other journalists) from a non-partisan FCC press office with titles such as ‘Remarks by  Comm. Rosenworcel on bringing the connected future to all Americans’ have now slid down a slippery and highly partisan slope to ‘Public Notice on filing comments on restoring Internet freedom’  (Internet freedom, of course, meaning the freedom of ISPs to do what they like).

Nothing to lose

But then again, what has Pai got to lose now?  Once it’s accepted by all that you’re occupying a parallel universe where you make up your own alternative facts, as Trump has discovered, you’re in the clear. You are free to simply keep on making the same assertions over and over and finding new ones.  Those who approve of your nonsense will just keep on approving, those who hate you, can’t hate you much more.

Like Trump you needn’t bother explaining or defending your opinions. You are suddenly free, just like those ISPs. Best of all the more bile you can draw out of your opponents, the more you  reinforce your contention that they are all low life losers who hate America. No wonder he’s usually pictured smiling.

Related Topics
  • Analysis & Opinion,
  • Business Models,
  • FCC,
  • Net Neutrality,
  • News,
  • Policy & Regulation

More Like This

Net Neutrality

Zero rating video content has adverse effects, claims study

Feb 8, 2019

Net Neutrality

Has weed whacker Ajit Pai been caught out?

Feb 5, 2019

Broadband

Broadband Forum Gfast solutions certifications jump to more than 40 as deployment success stories proliferate

Feb 1, 2019

Net Neutrality

AT&T warms up for the non-neutrality game

Jan 4, 2019

Net Neutrality

Is Porkies Pai planning an 'alternative numbers' factory?

Dec 13, 2018

Email Newsletters

Stay up to date with the latest industry developments: sign up to receive TelecomTV's top news and videos plus exclusive subscriber-only content direct to your inbox – including our daily news briefing and weekly wrap.

Subscribe

Top Picks

Highlights of our content from across TelecomTV today

Debate 4: Analytics, Machine Learning and the Edge

1:06

Guide to TIP: Edge Computing

5:09

Lumina Networks: Tying the old to the new with SDN

3:15

The Route from CSP to DSP is Open

  • TelecomTV
  • Decisive Media

TelecomTV is produced by the team at Decisive Media

Menu
  • News
  • Videos
  • Channels
  • Directory
  • Webcasts
 
  • Surveys
  • Debates
  • Perspectives
  • Events
  • About Us
Our Brands
  • TelecomTV Tracker
  • TelecomTV Perspectives
  • DSP Leaders Forum
  • Open Service Provider
  • The Great Telco Debate
Get In Touch
info@telecomtv.com
+44 (0) 207 448 1070

Request a Media Pack

Follow
  • © Decisive Media Limited 2019. All rights reserved. All brands and products are the trademarks of their respective holder(s).
  • Legal Notices