Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

VoIP Terms of Service May Surprise You

Posted by timothy on from the daddy-what-was-privacy dept.

rabtech writes "If you are thinking of ditching a land-line for a VOIP provider such as Vonage or Net2Phone, you might want to think again. Software "End User license Agreements" have gotten a lot of attention in the past over their onerous and restrictive terms, but who would expect such things from your phone company? The prime example is Vonage, which states among other things that 'If Vonage, in its sole discretion believes that you have violated the above restrictions, Vonage may forward the objectionable material, as well as your communications with Vonage and your personally identifiable information to the appropriate authorities for investigation and prosecution and you hereby consent to such forwarding.'" (Read more below.)

"Don't forget the obligatory 'we can change these terms of service whenever we like and they become effective immediately when posted to our website.' Read for yourself here(1), here(2), and here(3). I won't put up with this kind of thing in my software and I certainly won't put up with it from my phone company!"

3 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. Privacy etc. by onree · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This -- as well as the potential long-term storage of all content that passes through Vonage's network -- is why I think it's crazy people are so gung-ho about unregulated 'phone' service. Just one more sacrificial lamb to the information economy.

  2. Sorry folks by oasis3582 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sorry people, but no one is making you sign up for these services. Don't like that Gmail scans your inbox for advertising purposes? Don't bitch...just don't sign up. If it strikes a nerve with enough people that actually bother to read the ToS, then they will be forced to revise them. VoIP providers are no exception.

    1. Re:Sorry folks by Zebbers · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Jesus christ. You know. Free market does not always work. Sometimes people do need to be protected from massive corporations.

      This isn't email- inherently insecure. This is voice communications. Voice communications that recently began the trek to being legislated as such...with 911, taxes, etc.

      Wake up and smell the coffee. There are plenty of places people would like to "take a stand" but it's kind of hard to take a stand against million dollar corporations who really don't give a shit. We need to collectively stand up and say(legislate) you can't do this and must do this....because if we DONT, they WONT. It's that simple. Corporations do not care about people.