McDowell: Threats Against FCC’s Pai Could Warrant Investigation

The attacks online and in protest signage against Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai and his family over the Restoring Internet Freedom order circulated last week continued to draw condemnation, including a suggestion law enforcement may need to get involved.  That included from a longtime colleague, Robert McDowell, former senior FCC Republican commissioner and now chief public policy adviser for Mobile Future.

“I am deeply concerned by, and condemn in the strongest possible terms, the recent vitriol aimed at my friend and former colleague, FCC chairman Ajit Pai, by advocates of Title II regulation of the Internet," he said. "Beyond spewing hateful attacks at the chairman and his FCC colleagues, some are now targeting the chairman's young children." "Scare tactics against any policymaker have no place in a civil democratic society," said McDowell. "But thinly veiled threats against anyone, let alone children, should be denounced and condemned by all of us and, if warranted, investigated by law enforcement authorities. In the midst of this important debate about which laws will best promote America's digital future, let's remember that we should all be working toward the same goal of expanding Internet freedom and democratic values online and throughout American society.”