This revocation at least was expected zero-rating is a part of the net neutrality debate, in which Pai is vociferously opposed to pretty much everything former Chairman Wheeler did. The zero-rating thing was put to bed with the questionable justification that the FCC was aiming at “denying Americans free data.” The report now has “no legal or other meaning,” even though it never really had one. So what did Pai bury today in his midnight revocations? It is disappointing to see this Chairman engage in the same actions for which he criticized the prior Chairman. Then, we simply asked to have the Bureaus comply with the reasoned decision-making requirements of the APA. Today multiple Bureaus retract-without a shred of explanation-several items released under the previous administration that focus on competition, consumer protection, cybersecurity and other issues core to the FCC’s mission…My office requested more than the allotted two days to review the dozen items released today. However, that these midnight regulations are being revoked with equally little notice or discussion has a certain irony, not lost on Commissioner Clyburn, who raked Pai over the coals in her own statement. In some cases, Commissioners were given no advance notice whatsoever of these midnight regulations…These last-minute actions, which did not enjoy the support of the majority of Commissioners at the time they were taken, should not bind us going forward. In the waning days of the last Administration, the Federal Communications Commission’s Bureaus and Offices released a series of controversial orders and reports. Pai, in a statement, called the items being revoked “midnight regulations”: Spiking the investigation into zero-rating practices by telecoms is the most serious about-face, but it’s worth noting the other items going down the memory hole, unannounced, on a Friday afternoon. Newly minted Chairman Ajit Pai has ordered the revocation of several reports and investigations instigated by the commission before the turnover to the new administration. The FCC giveth, and the FCC taketh away… from itself, apparently.
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