4 ms·

""I salute today's bipartisan, nationwide effort to encourage best practices for combating robocalls and spoofing and am pleased that several voice service prov

""I salute today's bipartisan, nationwide effort to encourage best practices for combating robocalls and spoofing and am pleased that several voice service providers have agreed to abide by them," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in a statement." This guy is THE absolute worst. 51 attorneys general were able to rally to a cause that the chairman of the FCC could only pay marginal attention to (and under duress at that; he didn't pay this issue any attention until political blowback started).

criley2 7y ago
His quality is a feature, not a bug. He is doing an absolutely perfect A+ job from the perspective of those who put him there.
- chapium 7y ago
  Wasn't he hired by Obama?
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    By Obama, but he was required to pick a Republican for the slot, so McConnell made the recommendation (and would've likely filibustered anyone he didn't approve of). Trump made him Chairman.
    - mieseratte 7y ago
      > but he was required to pick a Republican for the slot How was he required to?
      - ceejayoz 7y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Election_Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Election_Commission > The commission is made up of six members, who are appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. Each member serves a six-year term, and two seats are subject to appointment every two years. By law, no more than three commissioners can be members of the same political party, and at least four votes are required for any official commission action. (Legally, I suppose he could've nominated someone from a third party for the slot, but practically that would've died with McConnell in the Senate.)
        zerocrates 7y ago
        The independent-commission rules mandating partisan equality have always struck me as constitutionally dubious, at best. But after a lazy search, I can't find really any discussion of the topic.
DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
I try to be charitable in my assumptions about the motives of civil servants. I think their jobs are more difficult than most imagine, and the press coverage isn't always fair. But I'm really struggling to find a charitable explanation for how Ajit Pai is conducting himself as FCC commissioner. Can anyone think of a plausible theory that doesn't involve malice [EDIT: I should have said "self-serving" instead of "malice"] or extreme incompetence on his part?
- ars 7y ago
  > for how Ajit Pai is conducting himself as FCC commissioner. What things are bothering you? Unlike the insinuation of the person your replied to, in reality he worked on this Caller ID issue almost immediately upon becoming chairman. (He put out an action paper July 2017, and became Chairman in January.) Net Neutrality seems to have had zero actual (as opposed to theoretical) problems, so that wasn't a problem either. So what things are you seeing that you want explanations for?
  - DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
    My problems with Pai's leadership are the same gripes you'll find from Googling those various issues. Apologies but I don't have time to dig up references at the moment.
    - ars 7y ago
      So basically you have no gripes? > "But I'm really struggling to find a charitable explanation" An explanation for what?? Ajit Pai was the one who got this Called ID situation taken care of. What in the world do you have to complain about? I don't need references - what are you complaining about?
- sin7 7y ago
  Money.
ars 7y ago
The FCC put out this in July 2017: https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication Ajit Pai became chairman January 2017. So it took him a whole 6 months to work on the issue. I really don't understand your criticism.
- awinder 7y ago
  That would be related to the 2 following years when the problem absolutely blew up, to the point that 51 AGs had to take further action. He paid lip service but we should demand more.
  - ars 7y ago
    Wait -- you think after he published this, it was supposed to be implemented the next day or something? 2 years is a perfectly reasonable amount of time to implement this. > to the point that 51 AGs had to take further action. You really like to see malice in people don't you? He did all the actual work, but you give the credit to the 51 AGs. Not only do you not give him credit, you actually give him negative points for doing this? What in the universe makes you think AGs can do anything about this without the FCC taking point? > (and under duress at that; he didn't pay this issue any attention until political blowback started). I don't get you. This statement is clearly false, I even gave you references, and you're still holding your position? Who am I kidding, I know exactly why you are talking this way, he's Republican, you're Democrat, and bashing the other party is the order of the day, never mind what they've actually done. And if you think I'm wrong - give me dates. Give me the date that "political blowback started", and even better, give me the date when you think he started paying attention to this. Because I gave you a date - and it was within months of him becoming chairman.

criley2 7y ago

His quality is a feature, not a bug. He is doing an absolutely perfect A+ job from the perspective of those who put him there.

chapium 7y ago
Wasn't he hired by Obama?
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  By Obama, but he was required to pick a Republican for the slot, so McConnell made the recommendation (and would've likely filibustered anyone he didn't approve of). Trump made him Chairman.
  - mieseratte 7y ago
    > but he was required to pick a Republican for the slot How was he required to?
    - ceejayoz 7y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Election_Commission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Election_Commission > The commission is made up of six members, who are appointed by the president of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. Each member serves a six-year term, and two seats are subject to appointment every two years. By law, no more than three commissioners can be members of the same political party, and at least four votes are required for any official commission action. (Legally, I suppose he could've nominated someone from a third party for the slot, but practically that would've died with McConnell in the Senate.)
      - zerocrates 7y ago
        The independent-commission rules mandating partisan equality have always struck me as constitutionally dubious, at best. But after a lazy search, I can't find really any discussion of the topic.

DoofusOfDeath 7y ago

I try to be charitable in my assumptions about the motives of civil servants. I think their jobs are more difficult than most imagine, and the press coverage isn't always fair. But I'm really struggling to find a charitable explanation for how Ajit Pai is conducting himself as FCC commissioner. Can anyone think of a plausible theory that doesn't involve malice [EDIT: I should have said "self-serving" instead of "malice"] or extreme incompetence on his part?

ars 7y ago
> for how Ajit Pai is conducting himself as FCC commissioner. What things are bothering you? Unlike the insinuation of the person your replied to, in reality he worked on this Caller ID issue almost immediately upon becoming chairman. (He put out an action paper July 2017, and became Chairman in January.) Net Neutrality seems to have had zero actual (as opposed to theoretical) problems, so that wasn't a problem either. So what things are you seeing that you want explanations for?
- DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
  My problems with Pai's leadership are the same gripes you'll find from Googling those various issues. Apologies but I don't have time to dig up references at the moment.
  - ars 7y ago
    So basically you have no gripes? > "But I'm really struggling to find a charitable explanation" An explanation for what?? Ajit Pai was the one who got this Called ID situation taken care of. What in the world do you have to complain about? I don't need references - what are you complaining about?
sin7 7y ago
Money.

ars 7y ago

The FCC put out this in July 2017: https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication https://www.fcc.gov/call-authentication Ajit Pai became chairman January 2017. So it took him a whole 6 months to work on the issue. I really don't understand your criticism.

awinder 7y ago
That would be related to the 2 following years when the problem absolutely blew up, to the point that 51 AGs had to take further action. He paid lip service but we should demand more.
- ars 7y ago
  Wait -- you think after he published this, it was supposed to be implemented the next day or something? 2 years is a perfectly reasonable amount of time to implement this. > to the point that 51 AGs had to take further action. You really like to see malice in people don't you? He did all the actual work, but you give the credit to the 51 AGs. Not only do you not give him credit, you actually give him negative points for doing this? What in the universe makes you think AGs can do anything about this without the FCC taking point? > (and under duress at that; he didn't pay this issue any attention until political blowback started). I don't get you. This statement is clearly false, I even gave you references, and you're still holding your position? Who am I kidding, I know exactly why you are talking this way, he's Republican, you're Democrat, and bashing the other party is the order of the day, never mind what they've actually done. And if you think I'm wrong - give me dates. Give me the date that "political blowback started", and even better, give me the date when you think he started paying attention to this. Because I gave you a date - and it was within months of him becoming chairman.