Ajit Pai Gives Carriers Free Pass on Privacy Violations During FCC Shutdown (arstechnica.com)

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai refused to brief a Congressional committee Monday about mobile carriers' ability to share their subscribers' location data with third parties. From a report: House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) asked Pai for an "emergency briefing" to explain why the FCC "has yet to end wireless carriers' unauthorized disclosure of consumers' real-time location data," and for an update on "what actions the FCC has taken to address this issue to date." Pai's FCC could take action, despite the 2017 repeal of the commission's broadband privacy rules. Phone carriers are legally required to protect "Customer Proprietary Network Information [CPNI]," and the FCC's definition of CPNI includes location data.

[...] Pai did not agree with Pallone, it turns out. "Today, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai refused to brief Energy and Commerce Committee staff on the real-time tracking of cell phone location[s]," Pallone said in a statement yesterday. "In a phone conversation today, his staff asserted that these egregious actions are not a threat to the safety of human life or property that the FCC will address during the Trump shutdown."

Comments

Too bad the Democrats care more about Mexico

[Anonymous Coward]

Than America. Can you believe one of the political parties is this corrupt and dependent on illegal border crossings that they will shut down the government to keep it going?

Um... they're selling to anyone with a Credit Card

[rsilvergun]

sooner or later an angry ex-spouse is going to get this data and use it to kill someone. It's a wonder it hasn't happened already.

Re:"AND MEXICO IS GOING TO PAY FOR IT"

[guruevi]

Us? Obama bailed out big business and banks. I never got a check, matter of fact, my taxes went up because I was poor, now Trump makes my taxes go down.

America has never been more alive

[SuperKendall]

With the Deep State finally on ice for a while during the shutdown, America is a humming machine of growth now...

If you want to say, the experiment of massive government has obviously failed - well then, right there with you friend. But that was never what America was about, that is Europe.

Something I don't think many Democrats are really thinking about here, the longer the shutdown goes on the more people see how little government is really necessary or useful. If someone just came along and funded the national parks and TSA fully how many would notice the shutdown was ongoing? Very few.

My dream though is that with the TSA faltering they are all replaced by private security which at least might be a bit more effective, or better yet scrapped altogether out of practicality.

Re:Dereliction of duty in a treason adminitration

[mysidia]

Moron shuts down the government on a tantrum-whim, consequently his "regulators" use that excuse to not do their jobs

No.... Shutting down the government - or the president refusing to sign a budget missing something he wants that the voters elected him to do has become standard. Obama did an equal shutdown, when congress wasn't giving him funds for the ACA --- now the shoe just happens to be on the other foot.

Either you blame Obama for the prior shutdown and Trump for this one, Or you blame Republicans in the house for the prior shutdown and Democrats in the house for the current shutdown: Those are your only two consistent options.

By the way: The shutdown is primarily congress' responsibility. They don't need the president's
  approval to proceed --- they just need to make a budget that 2/3 of the House members and 2/3 of the Senate members can agree to, so I'd say the president is blameless for saying he won't approve a budget that doesn't provide what the president promised to provide that the voters approved him into office for: that he had put on the national agenda, which has only not been put into place yet due to Congress' failings and incompetence.

Re:This is BAU for Pai

[strikethree]

We all know this by now. The question I keep asking is, is this going to change how anybody votes in 2020? So far I haven't got a single answer of "yes". As such, I would expect him to continue this behavior since it seems to be working out just fine for him.

Really? You think voting Democrat will prevent someone like Ajit Pai being appointed to an important position?

LOL. Your naivety is adorable.

What is worse is that you expect people to change their vote based on just ONE appointment. "Ajit Pai sucks, vote Democrat next time".

Ummm. That is not how this works. That is not how any of this works. You are utterly deluded if you think the root of the problem is voting for one party over the other. They are both as corrupt as could possibly be. We have seen evidence of Republican corruption and evidence of Democrat corruption. We have seen Republicans show a complete lack of respect towards common citizens. We have seen Democrats show a complete lack of respect towards common citizens.

Sure, the Democrats offer a DIFFERENT shitshow than the Republicans do, but both parties only offer shit shows.

So how is "changing a vote" a thing here? You will get corruption no matter what you vote. Corruption is the only thing offered on the ballot. If it weren't, then we could vote for non-corrupt people. But we can't. The only choice is: Do I prefer to get fucked this way (copyrights forever, wasted tax money etc) or do I want to get fucked that way (corps getting away with murder, huge tax increases).

Well? How would I change my vote in a way that matters? Go ahead and say vote Democrat and I will laugh at your fantasy version of reality. It is getting harder to not just write Mickey Mouse in as a candidate.