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Often these types of articles have a take they want the reader to adopt. In the past it was simple, we need net neutrality to save the internet and Ajit Pai is
by bko 1y ago
Often these types of articles have a take they want the reader to adopt. In the past it was simple, we need net neutrality to save the internet and Ajit Pai is an industry plant aimed to killing net neutrality. Cable companies love him.
You would think he'd be lobbying for cable companies, but a new boogie man has entered, the mobile industry. And now cable companies are mad at him. Oh and also consumer advocates, which apparently has the same incentives now apparently.
At least they admit as much later:
> The fight puts Pai at odds with the cable industry that cheered his many deregulatory actions when he led the FCC.
But this is kind of weird considering the "revolving door" policy and the implicit promise of future rewards
A few paragraphs in you get to some substance:
> "During the first Trump administration, the US was determined to lead the world in wireless innovation—and by 2021 it did," Pai wrote. "But that urgency and sense of purpose have diminished. With Mr. Trump's leadership, we can rediscover both."
> Pai's op-ed drew a quick rebuke from a group called Spectrum for the Future, which alleged that Pai mangled the facts.
> "Mr. Pai's arguments are wrong on the facts—and wrong on how to accelerate America's global wireless leadership," the vaguely named group said in a May 8 press release that accused Pai of "stunning hypocrisy." Spectrum for the Future said Pai is wrong about the existence of a spectrum shortage, wrong about how much money a spectrum auction could raise, and wrong about the cost of reallocating spectrum from the military to mobile companies.
I still have no idea whats true, but I will note the Spectrum for the Future is a lobbyist group (including tech companies like Airspan, Celona, Federated Wireless and comm providers like Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications). But at least they have a better name!
The article doesn't actually explain any of the issues or complexity, it just tries to say "Pai is aligned with [group], and [group] is bad. The article relies heavily on other lobbyist groups, that now include big cable which are the good guys now.
I have no idea what to think but my collective understanding of this issue somehow dropped after reading this article.
- iwontberude 1y agoSeems like Ajit was the belle of the ball and could pick winners of industry. Given the recent investments in 5G I could see the potential to go towards them.
- ledauphin 1y agothis is kind of what Ars Technica does these days. :(
- absurdo 1y agoYup. This is what we’ve had to endure on HN for the last decade. It’s been an incredibly frustrating site to comment on and frankly I want dang and tomhow to just prohibit political and quasi political articles. Other sites can be used for mindless shit-flinging.
- holsta 1y agoAlmost everything that has any impact in the world is political: The clothes we wear, the food we eat, where and how our children are schooled, the devices and services we have available, consumer rights for said devices and services, etc.
- absurdo 1y agoAs valid of a point as it may be, it’s absolutely trite in this context. You can infer and separate degrees of politics from hackers-as-hackers. Piling on Trump has zero utility to hackers. Think about it for a moment.
- holsta 1y agoWe already tried the whole "not resisting fascist-adjacent people every living second" and it didn't turn out great for a lot of people. Think about it for a moment.
- esseph 1y agoYou're going to end up with 10 people talking back and forth with the same groupthink and nothing of real substance will ever get discussed. What a nice hole to shove your head in to ignore the world around you.
- josefritzishere 1y agoI think this article is pretty material. I work in RF tech and the regulatory side of the business is very important. But that's the key, poltical topics can be materially relevant to technical topics. There is a large gray area and I think the HN community does a nice job preventing actual abuse.