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Costa Rica May Criminalize VoIP
chia_monkey writes "Here's an interesting little tidbit about the 'free' Internet. Seems Costa Rica may make it a crime to make Internet-based phone calls. It would be a shame if this sets a precedent of setting legistlation that would seriously stunt the growth of these emerging technologies that should be making communication cheaper and easier, not harder and illegal."
with trying to enforce that policy. Would iChat on Mac OS X (or any other voice/video chat program) be illegal as well?
VOIP was criminilized in South Africa since 1996. It was illegal to make any voip calls whatsoever, that means no MSN Chat, Skype etc.
VOIP became legal on Feb 1005 only after the Telkom (national telco) regulator started to break up Telkom's monopoly.
Right, and it's *only* the telephone company proposing this. No one in the Costa Rican government is (as yet) onside.
Can you say "Nothing to see here. Move Along"?
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
I've not RTFA but from discussion I had with someone 'in the know' it may well come back to the country loosing a significant amount of income from the price they charge for inbound telephony. When you call CR part of the price you pay for the call goes to the CR government. This is vital foreign exchange a country such as theirs cann ill afford to lose.
For a country that needs this income to build its hospitals, social infrastructure (yes and Army, corruption etc) it is a big blow.
If this is the reason I can actually support this. Despite what seem like the majority of the Slashdot crowd think, there is more to life that getting 'free' services from the Internet.
- What about if I record myself, and post it to the net, then someone downloads it, thats (literally)my VOICE over IP. Will they make that Illegal?
- How about if I write some text and put a Text to Speech engine on my site with my voice loaded into the engine? Will they make that Illegal?
- What about if Costa Rica telcos want to relay their voice calls internally over IP (at any point in the pathway) Will they make that Illegal?
Maybe next they'll make all paketized transfer of voice data illegal? - BYE BYE GPRS. This is what happens when people make laws without consulting unbiased (or unbiased on average) techinal people.Windows in 6 Bytes (IA-32) : 90 90 90 90 CD 19
Are you talking about the same "Costa Rica" ? The one where I live?
I wouldn't say CR is the most stable and economically successful latin american country...
That's just hilarious. Maybe central american country; and still, that's not something we should feel proud of.
Don't confuse the general situation of the country with the way people like to live. Sadly, we have adopted the american way of buy now, pay forever... But that doesn't mean everyone is wealthy...
And to say something about the topic, what else can you expect from a government controlled company that owns the monopoly on telecommunications and technology? It is true that a lot of people have cellphones, but that's a status symbol, you should be here to see the AWFUL service we get, both on TDMA and GSM.
Let alone talking about Costa Rica being pro-technology, that's just NOT true; only 6 months ago DLS started to be accessible and still the service is just below average.
I read this news on local newspaper a few days ago and I just laughed. Ignorance is a bliss.
- live from Costa Rica !
runs an American-style government
This is the only place I disagree with you. Costa Rica is hardly like the States, nor even supports it. When Bush went on about the Coalition of the Willing, Costa Rica asked that their name be removed. Costa Rica has no army. They concentrate on making their own country better without meddling in the affairs of other countries.
The article states that the ICE is a monopoly, but that's how they keep things in check. In English, the ICE is the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity. They handle the electricity and telecommunications for the entire country.
There is also only one, yes one, insurance company for every kind of insurance. Surely they have more examples too. Each are government regulated and do not rip people off.
It is true though that most business owners are European or American. This is because no foreigners are allowed to work unless they open their own business. This is because, as was mentioned, there are still not enough jobs for the existing population, and they don't need warmth seeking westerners taking their jobs.
I suspect this law will not be passed. Costa Ricans are smarter than that.
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no that's wrong. The expression "Third world" is a translation of the french "tiers monde", which is a reference to the "tiers état", litteraly "third state", which used to designate unprivileged people in the kingdom of France, until the 18th century (by contrast with the nobles and the members of the Church).
:/ 1/1/tiers-monde.shtml
The expression "tiers monde" dates back to 1952, and has been forged by demographer Alfred Sauvy, to designate poor countries, implying that the "tiers monde" is being despised and exploited just as the "tiers état" used to be.
See
http://www.linternaute.com/histoire/motcle/2923/a
War doesn't prove who's right, just who's left.
Telefonica (the Spanish group who also owns Terra, some banks and more) is probably yhe largest Brazilian phone company nowadays. They also own the most popular broadband service, Speedy. Until last year their service contract stated you couldn't use VoIP because "it consumed too much band".