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Vonage's CEO Says VoIP Blocking Is 'Censorship'

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the port-blocking-is-bad-mmm-kay dept.

Avantare writes "CEO of leading VoIP provider says port blocking of VoIP traffic is one potential small step toward an unwanted future of IP-based censorship. According to Vonage Holdings Corp. CEO Jeffrey Citron, intentional blocking of Voice over IP traffic is more than just a competitive dirty trick -- it's an act of censorship against free speech. In an exclusive interview here Tuesday [March 1], Vonage's chief executive said the issue of the company's recent incident of having some VoIP traffic blocked reaches beyond the market for IP-based voice communications and into the realm of free speech -- and as such, should be protected by the courts, the FCC, or by new telecom regulation that ensures free and open access over the Internet."

2 of 386 comments (clear)

  1. leave it to the market by fatjesus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the market will take care of this

    the day my ISP blocks a voice over IP port is the day that I switch to another ISP

  2. Re:Censorship... by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Only governments censor. This would be anti-competitive. Semantics, yes, but an important distiction nonetheless.

    You are incorrect. First anyone can censor, not just governments. Second, these corporations are given special legal protections by acting on behalf of the government as "common carriers" of communication, and as such are required to maintain impartiality in order to retain that status. An ISP is immune from prosecution for carrying child porn, only so long as it impartially transmits data, regardless of what it is, and does not attempt to police the content of its network. Whichever ISP this is just opened themselves up to prosecution for child porn, copyright infringement, libel, false advertising, etc., etc.