Now that President-elect Joe Biden has been inaugurated as the new leader of the country, Ajit Pai has already stepped down from his post as the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
With his departure, a number of Americans are hoping to have Net Neutrality reinstated. This is something the Obama administration put into place to force ISPs and wireless carriers to treat every streaming content the same. Unfortunately, it was one of the first things that Pai got rid of. Other things that Pai set for the industry include the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint and the entry of the 5G era.
In a report, Pai said to have revealed some of the things that the country should worry about in the coming years. One of those warnings included Chinese espionage coming from Chinese manufacturer, Huawei. The former chairman revealed that there is a “wide array” of concern over Chinese activities against the US. Some of these activities include surveillance and the “injection of malware into networks here in the US or around the world.” Pai share that when insecure equipment is being used to handle sensitive information, “a number of bad things can happen”.
This is in reference to Huawei’s networking equipment that the Trump administration banned in the US. They have also repeatedly warned their allies not to use any networking gear from Huawei for their 5G network. This is because of the concern that their equipment contains backdoors that can be used to spy on American corporations as well as the consumers.
There is no word whether the new administration will be reversing the penalties imposed upon Huawei. Before anything, the new president will have to replace Pai first. But there’s no word yet on who will be replacing Pai as the new FCC Chairman. Many are guessing that President Biden could appoint Jessica Rosenworcel as the new chairman. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before a new chairman is named.
