Meet FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, man behind net neutrality repeal

United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initiated the rollback of the net neutrality rules on Monday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai described the rules as "heavy-handed" and "a mistake" which was implemented in the year 2015, during Barak Obama's tenure.

With the repeal finally solidifying, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai becomes the man to bring about massive changes in the world of the internet, a move that is likely to ripple all across the world.

American internet service providers like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon Communications will now be able to regulate and perhaps even "manipulate" content accessed and consumed by internet users.

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In May this year, the FCC said the new regulations approved in December, will give providers broad new power over how consumers can access the internet.

Those who support net neutrality dub the repeal as a move that empowers carriers and internet service providers and equips them with the power to deliberately bolster established online platforms and entities like YouTube over emerging ones like Vimeo.

Some countries may even use the power to throttle access to some of the most popular online platforms to promote their local social networking platforms instead.

While speculations are rife about the possible outcomes of the FCC ruling, here's taking a quick look at Ajit Pai, the man who set out to scrap the Obama-era internet rules and called for the nemesis of the concept of net neutrality.

45-years-old Ajit Varadaraj Pai hails from Buffalo, New York and was born to Indian immigrants who moved to the US in the year 1971. He is the first person of the Indian-American origin to hold the office of the Chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Pai assumed office in January 2017 and previously held various positions at the FCC after being appointed to the commission by President Barack Obama in May 2012.

Before his journey at the FCC, Pai held positions with the Department of Justice, the United States Senate, the FCC's Office of General Counsel, and Verizon Communications.

Pai has always been a proponent of repealing net neutrality in the United States. On December 14, 2017, he called for the repealing of internet regulation in America under Title II of the Communications Act, 1934.

Time and again, Pai has expressed his views in support of less internet regulationwhich exhibits him as the one to share an affinity with internet broadcasters.

With initiating the rollback of net neutrality rules, Pai currently becomes a reviled personality for net neutrality supporters all across the globe. Experts contend that in the absence of such rules, internet service providers will enjoy nefarious powers, throttling and manipulating internet access to users and subscribers, and directing them to their own online properties.