Indian-American lawmakers attack FCC Chairman Ajit Pai on net neutrality

WASHINGTON: Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Ajit Pai has come under a blistering attack of several Indian-American lawmakers for his proposal to repeal the Obama-era net neutrality policy.

Pai is facing backlash for his proposal which seeks to reverse Obama-era net neutrality, which meant that all websites are treated equally by Internet providers.

Pai’s proposal would end that net neutrality and give big Internet providers like Comcast and Verizon broad powers to determine what website should reach out to subscribers faster than others.

The controversial proposal triggered a war of words between Pai (44) and first-term Indian-American Congressman from Silicon Valley Ro Khanna.

Khanna in a tweet said, “We need stronger net neutrality laws that ban most forms of zero rating instead of weakening these laws!”, as he retweeted an article from the Los Angeles Times according to which “in Portugal, with no net neutrality, Internet providers are starting to split the net into packages”.

He said The FCC is giving major corporations “even more control over the media, paving the way for megamergers like Sinclair-Tribune”.

“We have to fight for less consolidation to save our democracy,” he added.

Pai reacted sharply, saying that Khanna was making a false accusation. “In addition to making the false assertion that Portugal has no net neutrality, Congressman Khanna is pointing to an example that has nothing to do with net neutrality,” he said.