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A 33-year-old resident of Norwalk, Calif., Was arrested today for sending threatening e-mails to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai last year. according to the US Department of Justice. The threats, sent by an individual named Makara Man, were made primarily in the second of three messages sent to the FCC's official email accounts at the end of December, just days after the FCC had neutrality of the net.
The first email reportedly accused Pai of having caused the suicide of a teenager by his actions that led to the net neutrality vote. The second email contained an explicit threat against Pai's family members, as well as a list of three locations in Arlington, Va., Where it was said that Pai would live. The third email allegedly contained a picture of Pai and a separate picture of Pai and his family.
According to the Department of Justice, the FBI traced the emails to Man's home , where he admitted to having sent threats. He also confirmed his use of an email alias, "[email protected]", allegedly because the alias would make it "harder", according to the affidavit. Apparently, the man had the intention to "scare" Pai because he was "angry" with regard to the abrogation of the protections of net neutrality, reads in the affidavit.
Man is accused of threatening to kill a family member of a US official acting with the intention of interfering with the work and duties of the official, or threatening retaliation against a US official for their specific work. The charge carries a maximum of 10 years in prison.
Since Pai's controversial position on net neutrality culminated in a successful vote to remove the Title II rating for ISPs in December of last year, the president has been fairly criticized. After the vote at the end of last year, Pai was scheduled to appear at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January. However, his appearance was canceled because of the death threats made against him, Recode reported at the time.
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