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03/15/2017

6 changes the FCC has made in just six weeks

In just six weeks under the Trump administration, the Federal Communications Commission has quickly made its mark on issues such as Net neutrality and online privacy.

Response to the actions taken by the FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, has been sharply divided. That was clearly evident Wednesday during the Senate Commerce Committee's oversight hearing on the agency.

Committee Chairman Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said he was "heartened" that Pai had pledged to lessen partisanship among the commission and to increase transparency with public posting of issues before the FCC prior to its meetings. "Counter to the trend of Chairman Pai’s recent predecessors, who often sought to amass as much power in the chairman’s office as they could, these simple steps instead empower the public and the other commissioners," said Thune in his prepared remarks.

But Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, the committee's ranking Democrat, charged that the new chairman had weakened protection of consumers' online data, curtailed broadband access for low-income Americans and "sent shock waves through schools and libraries across the country" with his revocation of a report about the E-Rate program that provides taxpayer funds for educational WiFi and Net connectivity.

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