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Ajit Pai Cancels Trip To CES Amid Government Shutdown (theverge.com)

For the second year in a row, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai will not be attending the annual Consumer Electronics Show. According to Politico Pro, Pai and Commissioner Brendan Carr are canceling their appearances at CES as a consequence of the ongoing partial government shutdown. Last year, Pai canceled due to death threats he received in the aftermath of the net neutrality rollback, which occurred just weeks prior to the conference. The Verge reports: Carr was expected to attend a roundtable session with Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter to discuss regulatory and policy issues involving 5G, privacy and accessibly, along with other topics. Both events have been removed from the CES schedule, but organizers have yet to respond to requests for comment.

As of Thursday afternoon, non-essential FCC employees were furloughed and âoemostâ operations were suspended as Congress battles it out over a funding package for the upcoming fiscal year. While the agency is shut down, consumer complaints will not be heard, consumer protection enforcement actions will be ceased, and licensing services will end until new funding is approved. CES 2018 begins on January 8th and runs through the 11th. Pai was scheduled to speak on opening day at 1:30PM PST.

12 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Death threats? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Convenient excuse?

    I'm sure he could afford to pay his own way. Verizon pays all his bills anyway.

  2. Re:Death threats? by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    Politicians and public figures related to both parties receive death threats. Remember, roughly 1 out of 1,000 people have their head screwed on wrong, at least.

  3. C'mon Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Can we _please_ remove the political slant from this site?

    1. Re: C'mon Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      We need to remove the political slant from every site. Virtual every bulletin board or comment section gets derailed by some political bullshit now, no matter what TFA was about. I'm beginning to think the goal is both one of brainwashing and simply shutting down open communication.

      I can see that it's working well, here. Haven't been on in a long while but comments look dead and comment quality looks far worse than anything I remember, even for Slashdot.

  4. Do /. editors get a paycheck? by msauve · · Score: 2

    "ÃoemostÃ"

    Editor fail.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  5. stage fright by renegade600 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    he just did not want to get booed off stage.

    1. Re:stage fright by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Well something good come of this shutdown.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    2. Re:stage fright by freeze128 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Last year, he stayed away because of death threats. This year, he heard that he would have to face FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter. I don't think that coffee cup of his is big enough for him to hide in...

  6. Bullshit! by mikeiver1 · · Score: 3, Informative

    The fucking coward is simply to scared to show up there because he knows that just about every American, and likely a large segment of the rest of the developed world, hate his fucking guts! The little shit is a shill for the Cellular and cable providers here in the states. Hope his plane crashes next time though!

  7. non-essential FCC employees were furloughed by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

    They started with Pai, didn't they? Few people could be less essential right now.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  8. Cancel! Cancel! by Opportunist · · Score: 2

    Don't blow the plane up, the package ain't on board!

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Verizon already blocks streaming services by Shompol · · Score: 2

    Both Hulu and Netflix started having connection issues on my Verizon Fiber. Does anyone else have similar problems? Will switching to Comcast help or make it worse?