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VoIP Receives Warm Reception From UK Regulators
"In stark contrast to the U.S., where VoIP providers may be stifled by wiretap costs, the UK telecoms regulators seem to be welcoming the technology. The BBC is reporting that a block of phone numbers have been assigned to VoIP users -- and that Ofcom, the regulators, have said 'Our first task as regulator is to keep out of the way.'
It's interesting to note that when CCTV cameras in public places in the UK were mentioned on /. the other day, there was an immediate outcry from US people about "Invasion of privacy" and "Thank God the authorities here can't spy on me when I'm outside!"
And then when VoIP gets mentioned, it has to be pointed out that it's being stalled in the US by the authorities complaining that it'll make it harder to spy on people who are in their own homes.
Six of one and half a dozen of the other. . ?
So.. it has come to this
Just wait until David "Hitler" Blunkett hears about it: there'll be new laws in parliament outlawing it or requiring any VOIP users to first prove, on pain of becoming Blunkett's new guide dog, that they are who they say they are. Edward PS: The fact that David Blunkett, a "Labour" (eg Socialist, left wing), is best mates with the editor of one the most right wing tabloids (the Daily Mail) has nothing to do with him behaving like a rabid dog: I think he must be trying to out right-wing Margaret Thatcher just to impress his editor friend.
Bad analogies are like waxing a monkey with a rainbow.
"Our first task as regulator is to keep out of the way."
Lets hope they don't stay out of the way for too long, like they did with BT, especially given how quickly businesses get a foothold in these kinds of markets.
I think you're confused, because this is a story about VOIP in the United Kingdom, not the US. There is no "Congress". There are no convoluted tax laws that only apply to telecoms. VOIP users will pay VAT on their service just like any other telecoms user. Total impact on tax revenues would be expected to increase slightly, not decrease.
Which include - What does the future hold? and Have we forgotton about anything?
One thing I'd say they don't discuss is vunerbility to things like DDOS attacks... they also don't comment on phone tapping (Though that's covered in other legislation it would be good to have included the relavant pointer here)
UK Laptops
The story for us Brits here is not the rather waffly statement that ofcom "seem to be welcoming" VoIP, it's the hard fact that they are having a consultation period on it.
They want to know our views on issues such as mandatory provision of free 999 calls (our emergency number, equivalent to 911 in the USA).
The consultation ends on the 15th November. Here is how to respond. If we want a sensible VoIP policy in Britain, now would be a good time to ask the regulatory body for it.
A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
OFTEL don't need to push the interception stance, because RIPA already covers it.
The US survelliance laws are _totally_ different to those of the UK.
In the UK we don't have control over the laws on this sort of thing anymore, we are just waiting for European guidence to be issued which we will then have to follow if it's in our interests or not. This is just intermediatry guidence while we wait for the European machine to come up with something - though perhaps it does put us in a good position to shape what that something is.
UK Laptops
You do realise this is a post about the UK don't you. Most countries don't have the long distance / local provider thing you Americans do. I mean there are cheap calling cards, but those are a little different.
Maybe. But the fact is that, for the amount of data sent over their pipes for voice, it's more efficient (read: less bandwidth) to use VoIP. So it costs the link owner less too.
POTS is outdated anyway. Broadband is a utility these days, and if the government want to mandate anything they should impose QoS terms on providers (at the moment there is no contractual obligation for a UK Broadband ISP to actually keep the service going, whereas for POTS a days down time can cost BT money). Once we have QoS on our broadband, then POTS will slower die off.
I look at the current price advantages of VOIP as merely an insentive that will speed up uptake.
The real advantage, from my perspective, of VOIP is the flexable nature of the network and the new sorts of phone systems that can be set up. Systems that are functionally equivalent to todays office switchboards can be deployed over distributed locations and you can control all of the routing directly using your own server. There's no need to ask the phone company to add another extention. This is, of course, just one example.
Yes, prices will go up, but we will be able to get a more sophisticated service for the same cost.
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Grandparent: Most countries don't have the long distance / local provider thing you Americans do.
Parent: What, you just have one monopolistic corporation that controls both local and long distance calling? Sounds like AT&T before 1984.
The bigger difference in charging in the UK compared to the US is that we don't have the cross-subsidisation of "free local calls".
Given the smallness of the island, most but not all UK providers have reduced their long distance call rates to the same level as their local calls. Many packages offer free national calls. An important source of revenue these days is calls to mobile phones, which are charged at a much steeper rate. (The UK operates a strict calling party pays approach).
BT customers do have the option to go to other providers either for all their services. Many do. Others offer calling cards for international calls, calls to mobiles and local calls.