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Panama Decrees Block To Kill VoIP Service

Posted by timothy on from the what-part-of-free-market-don't-you-understand dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In an apparent attempt to stem telephone company revenue losses due to Internet telephony, the government of Panama has decreed that 46 UDP ports be blocked by all Internet service providers. The ports include ones that are commonly used for voice over IP as well as some that are used for other purposes, apparently with the idea that these, too, could be used to circumvent the POTS (plain old telephone system, a term of art) in making telephone calls."

7 of 453 comments (clear)

  1. Re:They will need to also block every other port. by atrus · · Score: 5, Funny

    In other news, Panama is back to using ip addresses to look at websites since DNS is now blocked in that country.

  2. Suggestion to Panama by j1mmy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Please adapt.

    1. Re:Suggestion to Panama by Multics · · Score: 5, Funny
      Or alternately, "Aren't you third-world-ish enough already without this kind of crap?"

      -- Multics

  3. In a Folow Up News Release by Quirk · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Panamania Government has decreed all citizens are to wear tin foil hats to block telepathic circumvention of POTS.

    --
    "Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
    Cohen
  4. Re:They will need to also block every other port. by The+Original+Yama · · Score: 5, Funny

    Soon they'll also be blocking shipping ports, including the Panama Canal. I've never heard of a country blockading itself before.

    --
    OLPC Australia
  5. Next day, several new protocols invented... by Polo · · Score: 5, Funny

    I would assume that there will soon be:

    VODNSOIP
    VOHTTPOIP
    VOICMP

  6. Re:Not hard at all... by lostchicken · · Score: 4, Funny

    If TCP became a problem, I'd be happy to sell them a raft of these to take care of all their problems...

    --
    -twb