On Thursday, Ajit Pai will have his first appearance before a Senate oversight committee since an internal report revealed the FCC has been falsely claiming its comment system was hit by a cyberattack last year. It’s going to be good and you can watch it live this morning starting at 10am Eastern.
For more than a year, the FCC has claimed its website was hit by a DDoS attack that disabled its system for allowing the public to comment on its proposal to repeal net neutrality. Despite the numerous issues with the legally-mandated commenting process, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai barreled forward with his plans to kill the open internet and secured approval last December. All the while, he maintained that a cyberattack had occurred and the FCC was powerless to do anything about it.
Earlier this month the FCC’s inspector general concluded an investigation into the attacks and found the whole story was hogwash. Despite the FCC being aware that it should expect a tremendous influx of traffic, it did not prepare for the flood of legitimate Americans who wanted to express their disapproval of the Title II repeal.
Pai has previously testified to Congress that the phony cyberattack occurred and has since placed all the blame on his chief information officer. If a letter sent to Pai by Democrats from the Energy & Commerce Committee on Tuesday is any indication, members of the Senate aren’t buying it.
So, get your popcorn ready. This guy has been spreading nonsense since he took office and it appears he might finally be held accountable. You can stream the hearing live at the Senate Commerce Oversight Committee’s website or over on C-SPAN. We’ll be watching along and covering the grilling all day.