We’re used to talking about a certain form of corruption using a term that is very dull. “Regulatory Capture” is described as “a form of government failure that occurs when a regulatory agency, created to act in the public interest, instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry or sector it is charged with regulating.” It’s a useful term, but a bloodless one that sounds technical.
I propose that instead we use the simpler and just as accurate “Ajitpai” as a replacement.* Let the FCC commissioner join the august company of Vikdun Quisling and Charles Boycott, whose actions were so repellent that their names have become part of our language. (And of course Santorum — remember to google it!)
Let us personalize regulatory capture with the name of the individual whose venality and devotion to destroying the open internet make him the poster child for the danger of corporate infiltration. It will be sweeter if we use the internet to do it before he makes access more difficult.
*Not just “Pai,” which would be a homonym for a favorite dessert.