Federal Appeals Court Sides With VoIP Providers

gollum123 writes "AP reports that the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling by a lower court that A Minnesota agency may not regulate calls through VoIP as it does calls through traditional phone lines. 'The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission had argued that VoIP companies were providing phone-like service and therefore should be regulated as phone companies are. But those businesses said they provide an information service rather than a telecommunications service. This follows the FCC saying that VOIP cannot be regulated using the same rules as traditional phone.'"

Comments

load of bull?

[t_allardyce]

This is really just bullshit isnt it? VoIP _is_ like a phone, the only reason that it shouldnt be classed as a phone system is to get around stupid ancient phone laws that should be updated instead of worked around, its like saying that by-passing CD 'copy protection' isnt a violation of the DMCA because its for back-up purposes, - it quite clearly is a violation, the real point is that the DMCA is crap.

Re:load of bull?

[QuantumRiff]

Um, maybe they should not be classified as a phone system is because they are not a phone system. If I live in LA, but get a NY area code from Vonage, which states regulations apply, (or do both). What happens when I take my little vonage box to New Mexico to visit the family for a week, or on a long business trip? What if they use Vonage over a Dialup connection, do they get to pay double fees? The main reason for the laws that are there is becuase they telecoms agreed to them in order to get a government "licensed" monopoly. The goverment taxes the phone lines, (ie, the wires) not the calls. If they want, they should tax the internet connections, the cable modems, DSL lines, wireless hotsposts, whatever, but not the data.