Californian Man Arrested for Threatening FCC Chairman Ajit Pai over Net Neutrality
- A resident of Norwalk, California was arrested for threatening to kill Ajit Pai’s family over Net Neutrality.
- The man was accused to send series of threatening emails to Pai and confirmed that he was angry about the repeal of rules.
- Due to the consistent threats, Pai canceled a scheduled appearance at CES 2018. Â
Today, a 33-year-old Californian man was arrested for sending threat mails to Federal communications commission (FCC) chairman Ajit Pai. The US Department of Justice revealed that the threat was not just limited to Pai, but extended to his entire family over his recent take on net neutrality. The Californian man sent threat mail to the Pai’s official FCC email accounts, in which he mentions himself as Makara Man, which happens to be his real name. The threats are dated back to December of Last year, soon after FCC officially announced to take off the net neutrality protections.
As per an article on Verge, the Justice department traced the email to man’s home, who intended to scare Pai for his and FCC’ take on net neutrality. The man confirmed to use a fake email address (stubblemanliness@gmail.com) for sending threatening emails, primarily to sound tougher.
The Californian man has been charged with threatening to murder an acting US official and his family with the mal intentions to disrupt the official duties and performance. The charge can carry up to 10 years of imprisonment.
Last year, Pai’s controversial stance on net neutrality resulted in the removal of the Title II classification for internet service providers. Since then, the chairman has been subjected to hatred from the public, both offline and online. In early January this year, Pai was also invited to appear at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2018) in Las Vegas. But, due to the death threats against him, his appearance was canceled from the show.
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