Ajit Pai on net neutrality: “I favor an open Internet and I oppose Title II”

In a press conference after the meeting, Pai was asked several times about net neutrality. While Pai has repeatedly made it clear that he opposes the current rules and wants to overturn them, he has not said whether the commission will continue to enforce all of the rules while they are still in place.

When asked by a reporter if the agency will continue to enforce the rules, Pai pointed out that he and fellow Republican Commissioner Michael O'Rielly already said they wouldn't punish small ISPs for violations of the net neutrality order's "enhanced transparency" rules. The FCC is finalizing an order that will exempt ISPs with 250,000 or fewer subscribers from those truth-in-billing rules and will not enforce them against the small ISPs while they're still in place.

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But for now, Pai is not saying whether the commission will continue to enforce the core net neutrality rules that prohibit Internet providers from blocking or throttling traffic or giving priority to Web services in exchange for payment.

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Pai was asked the question by two other reporters and continued to decline comment. "Again, we haven’t made any determinations at this time," Pai said. "I think the issue is pretty simple. I favor a free and open Internet and I oppose Title II. That's pretty much all I can say about that topic."

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https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ay-whether-hell-enforce-net-neutrality-rules/

Now, before anyone freaks out about the small isp exemption, that's actually an extension of an exemption that existed under the Obama administration, though I'm not clear on why that exemption existed in the first place. Rather, the question is: what is your theory on how the current FCC intends to maintain a "free and open internet" if he removes Title II. Keep in mind that Ajit Pai has explicitly stated that he intends to "take a weed whacker" to Net Neutrality.

I apologize in advance as I placed this in the wrong forum. Ars Technica isn't MSM and this thread belongs in Breaking News -Non MSM.

IMHO this is without a doubt the most important issue right now and will be a top 1-3 issue throughout his presidency (only possibly not #1 because of some insane event like WWIII or an exodus of 11 million Latinos from the U.S. in a glorious Trail of Tears event). Every time "the people" have won so far I have breathed a sigh of relief but deep down I always felt it was just a matter of time. They will not stop until they ruin the internet and turn it into the ultimate oligarchy control device. Once they have the right to selectively route packets as they see fit we can kiss our democracy and financial power goodbye. The internet will be completely under the control of the largest corporations and anyone that isn't them and cannot pay whatever they can demand will be powerless.

For those that don't understand. Imagine if every road in the U.S. was owned by a dozen very large corporations. Now let's say there were toll booths at every intersection and even at your driveway. Now lets say they could charge you whatever they wanted depending on what you're driving, where you're going, what you have in your truck, and who you work for. They can also deny you access if you are not driving their preferred vehicle, or you're carrying something they don't like. Now let's say they created this system under the guise of "better roads and faster highways for people who want to pay more". It might sound good in some ways and probably would be, but obviously the potential for abuse is also astounding. Any greedy business person would cream themselves over the power and leverage a system like this gives them.