Ajit Pai

I'll never forget the first time I heard Johann Sebastian Bach's 'Partita in E Major' for violin. It was in a late-1980s television commercial, of all things. As a young violinist at the time, it enchanted me - it was so pure, precise, and unadorned.

My view is that the Internet should be run by engineers and entrepreneurs, not lawyers and bureaucrats.

High-speed Internet access, or broadband, is giving entrepreneurs anywhere an unprecedented chance to disrupt entire industries and transform our country.

Broadband Internet access shouldn't depend on who you are or where you're from.

It's vital that low-income Americans have access to communications services, including broadband Internet, which Lifeline helps to achieve.

Some claim that the Obama FCC's regulations are necessary to protect Internet openness. History proves this assertion false. We had a free and open Internet prior to 2015, and we will have a free and open Internet once these regulations are repealed.

The Internet should be an open platform where you are free to go where you want and say and do what you want without having to ask anyone's permission.

I support a free and open Internet.

We need to create a level regulatory playing field. It makes no sense for Internet giants like Google, Facebook, and Twitter to be allowed to buy newspapers while a small AM radio station is prohibited from purchasing its local paper.

Infrastructure investment is critical to closing the digital divide in our country and bringing high-speed Internet access to more rural Americans.

Gigabit Opportunity Zones would enable Americans to become participants in, rather than spectators of, the digital economy. They would be a powerful solution to the digital divide. I hope our elected officials will give the idea serious consideration.

In my first remarks as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission to the agency's terrific staff, I stressed that one of my top priorities would be to close the digital divide - the gap between those who use cutting-edge communications services and those who do not.