406. Can You Hear Me Now?

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4.6 • 32K Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2020

⏱️ 48 minutes

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Summary

When he became chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai announced that he was going to take a “weed whacker” to Obama-era regulations. So far, he’s kept his promise, and earned the internet’s ire for reversing the agency’s position on net neutrality. Pai defends his actions and explains how the U.S. can “win” everything from the 5G race to the war on robocalls.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Now, when you first joined the FCC back in 2007, I believe a profile of you described the FCC as,
0:07.7	quote, one of those government institutions that conceals its importance behind an impenetrable
0:13.2	veneer of boringness. I'm curious whether you think that's about accurate.
0:18.8	I think the description might have described the agency for some time, but given the range of
0:23.7	our jurisdiction today, I think it's assumed to much more prominence. I'd like you to meet
0:30.6	a Jeep Pi and I service the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, DC.
0:36.4	The FCC, an independent government agency overseen by Congress, was founded in 1934.
0:42.5	Its baseline mission is to regulate communications by radio, TV, wire, satellite, and cable.
0:48.4	Because communications technology has evolved just a little bit since 1934, the agency's portfolio
0:55.2	has evolved as well, not just in size, but in complexity. Its decisions carry not only economic
1:01.9	ramifications, but increasingly societal, security, and political ramifications, too.
1:08.1	Consider the agency's recent effort led by a Jeep Pi to reverse the commission's own position on
1:15.0	net neutrality. A political fight is brewing about access to the internet. It involves a basic
1:21.1	concept of how the internet is governed. Do you want it to be governed by engineers and entrepreneurs,
1:26.0	or do you want it to be run by bureaucrats and lawyers here in Washington? To go out and claim that
1:31.4	somehow this is some kind of consumer protection is a fraudulent representation.
1:38.7	The net neutrality fight with all its scintillating debate about the Title I and Title II sections of
1:44.6	the Communications Act of 1934 led to a Jeep Pi being called the most hated man on the internet.
1:53.5	Among a certain cohort, at least, that wasn't much of an exaggeration.
1:57.7	Pi is not afraid to take a strong stance or defend it. In these days, there are plenty of
2:02.9	strong stances to take on issues that the public doesn't much care about, like spectrum allocation
2:09.6	and small cell deployment, but also on robocalls, the 5G rollout, and what to do about Huawei.
	...

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