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> Pai has had no qualms wielding executive power in gutting net neutrality to pave the road for tiered Internet schemes and zero-rating He's not "using executi

> Pai has had no qualms wielding executive power in gutting net neutrality to pave the road for tiered Internet schemes and zero-rating He's not "using executive power" to gut anything. He's choosing not to exercise the executive's authority to actively enforce rules that would be necessary ensure net neutrality. You and I may not like it, but it's not ideologically inconsistent like you make it out to be.

morganvachon 10y ago
Yes, he is: > "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 The commission "need[s] to remove outdated and unnecessary regulations...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.[1] He is planning to remove net neutrality regulation, not just decline to enforce it. [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/12/fccs-ajit-pai-says-net-neutralitys-days-are-numbered-under-trump/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/12/fccs-...
- chimeracoder 10y ago
  Again, you and I both disagree with his assertion that enforcing net neutrality is not within his authority. But it's not inconsistent for him to make that assertion and also to remove net neutrality regulations that his own agency previously issued, replacing them instead with a different set that requires less power to enforce. When you're talking about the executive branch, "removing regulation" means issuing guidelines (and executing them). They have the authority to do this one way or the other, and he is choosing to issue rules that involve a smaller display of executive authority when enforced. Except in a very abstract linguistic sense, it makes no sense to say that "removing regulations" is a more "active" use of authority than actually actively enforcing regulations.

morganvachon 10y ago

Yes, he is: > "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[s] 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.[1] He is planning to remove net neutrality regulation, not just decline to enforce it. [1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/12/fccs-ajit-pai-says-net-neutralitys-days-are-numbered-under-trump/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/12/fccs-...

chimeracoder 10y ago
Again, you and I both disagree with his assertion that enforcing net neutrality is not within his authority. But it's not inconsistent for him to make that assertion and also to remove net neutrality regulations that his own agency previously issued, replacing them instead with a different set that requires less power to enforce. When you're talking about the executive branch, "removing regulation" means issuing guidelines (and executing them). They have the authority to do this one way or the other, and he is choosing to issue rules that involve a smaller display of executive authority when enforced. Except in a very abstract linguistic sense, it makes no sense to say that "removing regulations" is a more "active" use of authority than actually actively enforcing regulations.