Slashdot Mirror
China Telecom Blocking Skype Calls
Retrospeak writes "According to a Reuters report China is starting to block Skype service in Shenzhen, an affluent southern city of China. Local Chinese media report that China Telecom has plans to eventually block the service throughout its coverage area nationwide. Could this have something to do with the fact that China Telecom charges close to $1 per minute for calls to United States and Europe?" From the article: " A China Telecom spokesman had no comment on the reports about the Shenzhen blockage, but gave a broader view. 'Under the current relevant laws and regulations of China, PC-to-phone services are strictly regulated and only China Telecom and (the nation's other fixed-line carrier) China Netcom are permitted to carry out some trials on a very limited basis,' he said."
Now if we could somehow get a US company to pay Chinese workers $2 per hour to make Skype handsets for sale in China, then we might have a deal on our hands. Anyone?
If they aren't set up to tap IP telephony, then they'll want to block it until they are.
It's the way of such governments.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I'm not sure how you think the Chinese government will 'have to embrace' anything. If they want to block IP telephony they can and will. What does the legitimacy or functionality of the technology have to do with what a dictatorial, repressive government can and will do?
Shoo' I'm being raped, tortured, and murdered there!
Falun Dafa is good!
I'm not a lawyer, and curious about the legal implications of this. I know that with China being a communist nation, that the people probably have no rights, but could Skype turn around and have a lawsuit against China Telecom, for "obstruction of service" or "tampering with service" which is essentially what they are doing?
It's hard enough to sue a sovereign nation for violating it's *own* laws, let alone over something like this. IANAL either, but I can tell you that a snowball would have a better chance lasting in hell than Skype would have in winning such a suit.
This is what happens when a fascist oligarchy adopts the worst aspects of capitalism.
Funny, I was in Beijing two months ago and there was a HUGE billboard for Skype, right in the center of the business district.
My guess is that they are just using a heavy hand to pressure skype into two things:
1) handing over some money/bribes.
2) making sure they can listen in on conversations
3) They did something like this to Google a few years back. Even now google experiences outages all the time. I guess this is just the way the chinese gov't is used to doing business.
Skype just has to figure out the right person to bribe and this will all go away.
Peace, or Not?
Having VoIP (which is an unreliable technology mostly just good for cheap low quality unreliable phone calls) banned in China is minor compared to the fact people are TORTURED, IMPRISONED FOR YEARS, and EXECUTED for political crimes.
Simple test to see which country is more free.
Can you join a Nazi party in your Country? Many European Countries you can not, in the US, you can.
Can you buy a copy Mein Kamf? Many Countries you can not, in the US, you can.
Can you buy anything that is printed? In the United Stated, bomb making books are printed and sold, legally.
Are your basic rights outlined in your constition? Freedom of Speech, Right to Assemble, Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Religion are the basic foundations of this Country are protect by our Bill of Rights.
Europe and other countries can bash us for many reasons and in some areas are more free than we are, but in the Big Picture, we are more free than anyone else.
Linux O Muerte!
I never thought I'd say this, but China's leaders need to keel over and die due to 'natural causes', with the help of a few allied governments' militaries.
I'm usually all for leaving other countries' governments alone, but I'm starting to feel like there's a certain threshold which you can stifle people's rights, and China is well past that and needs to be dismantled/reshaped.
Btw, I should note, that I don't feel like this solely due to Skype - I could care less about skype.. Watching a country try and make information and self-education disappear is both hillarious and saddening. It is hillarious because they will never succeed in the long run, it is saddening that they have succeded in general for now and succeeded in limiting so much other information.
I think this is just overreaction by Reuter and other slashdotters. Internet based phone is incredibly common in China, you can buy "IP Phone cards" that work with any phone for ridiculously cheap prices. (100 RMB cards selling for 50 RMB, plus buy one get one free.)
Skype has always been somewhat blocked in China since they signed the agreement with tom.com. Sometimes buying credits directly from Skype.com doesn't work unless you're an existing user. Sometimes the entire skype.com site is blocked.
As for popularity, QQ has far more users and is known by even non-computer users...
It's unfortunate you seem to hold most dearly those values related to the Nazi revolution. Unfortunately, I don't like settling for that kind of freedom.
If I'm blocked from attending a town hall meeting put on by my President because I'm a Democrat, I'm not very free.
If elections can be decided by a court, I'm not very free.
If neoconservatives can threaten to impeach judges because they don't decide cases based on religious contrine, I'm not very free.
If big businesses can invest their money wisely enough to buy off a Congress, I'm not very free. (See the energy, telecommunications, defense, highway bills.)
If oil companies formerly run by our Vice President get no-bid contracts and take over Iraqi oil fields, I'm not very free.
If the government office in charge of investigating abuses of power (like those no-bid contracts) say they're "too busy" to investigate Cheney, despite having three times the case load when they approved a Clinton investigation, I'm not very free.
If my uncle down south, along with others, is asked to leave his church because he's a card-carrying Democrat, I'm not very free.
If wealthy people get billions of dollars and, as a result, we cripple state budgets and tens of thousands of people die because of a Hurricane, I'm not very free.
The truth is, honest to God, I'd trade in my copy of "My Struggle" if it reversed all those things. Freedom is in the eye of the beholder. The rich and the religious feel very free. In fact, they feel ENTITLED. But the truth is, there's a reason Norway is #1 on the UN's list of countries to live in and the U.S. is #37. I can't imagine Norwegians are screaming for liberty and freedoms. They're free, they go about their lives, and they do well.
The U.S. has turned a corner and is on a very dark path right now. If you don't see it - even just a glimpse of it - then you need to, because power tends to consolidate, and if past actions lend to future ambitions, we're in for big trouble as neocons continue gaining strength.
Your simple test is misguided. It's not about which party you can join. After all - Germany had a problem with Nazis and outlawed them. We spent a better part of the 20th century tearing to pieces Communists in our own. Even today, in the 21st century, many folks spend their time talking about "killing" (yes, hate speech) the liberals who ruin this country. They are perverse, sick, disgusting individuals who are so entrenched in a false system of values.
The true test of freedom is the consolidation of power. Is it centralized in the people in America? I would say less and less. Corporatism is the new threat - and the neocons (and even many Conservatives) are perfectly aligned to feed it. This threatens our values. These are not our American values -- hell, they're not even good Christian values, if you want to bring religion into it.
Love your country, Mullen. Just don't love it too much. The Constitution is a pitiful and weak thing -- it is not the protector of our great democracy.
We are.
The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
Can you take apart and modify your own electronic equipment ? in the US you can't
Can you get a fair trial in front of your peers ? in the US you can't
Can you read books in your library without fear of being persecuted ? in the US you can't
Can you report stories as a journalist without fear of revealing your sources and being jailed ? in the US you can't
freedom is a good idea but its not working out very well in USA
Don't ignore the fact that the USA's Department of Justice has the perverse idea that since an accident of technology (circuit-switched telephony) made it possible to monitor telephone calls, that situation should continue, regardless of changes in technology. They now view that capability as a "right", forcing others to build backdoors into their systems. It would be trivial to add strong link encryption, and end-to-end encryption for on-network calls, to modern cellular phone systems. Why don't we have it in the USA? Ask the FCC, DoJ and NSA.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Yes, this is a problem. There are people there who are affected, people like you and me. Help them today, and they will perhaps help you tomorrow when *your* corporation-government gets funny ideas.
Well, true, but this story has nothing to do with that, it's just about good old robber-baron style capitalism, big companies who are well-connected with the government abusing the rights of consumers to protect their profits.
If I'm blocked from attending a town hall meeting put on by my President because I'm a Democrat, I'm not very free.
Are organizers of an event not free to block anyone they like?
If elections can be decided by a court, I'm not very free.
So what would be freedom then? for YOU to decide based on what you would prefer? If an election is close and has questions about votes, wouldn't you want some kind of arbiter to come in and settle things? Define the freedome you are thinking you lost here - especially since by any major newspaper tallies, the votes came out the way the election did.
If neoconservatives can threaten to impeach judges because they don't decide cases based on religious contrine, I'm not very free.
That's odd, I thought the ability to threaten other people in the government without being shot was actually rather liberating!
If big businesses can invest their money wisely enough to buy off a Congress, I'm not very free. (See the energy, telecommunications, defense, highway bills.)
Get your own money and buy off who you please if it's so easy then. After all, you are Free to do so.
Do you think only the right have money? Well then it must not come dwn to only money that controls things or else there would be more balance.
If oil companies formerly run by our Vice President get no-bid contracts and take over Iraqi oil fields, I'm not very free.
In what way did this impinge on YOUR freedom. Did you have a bid that got rejected?
If the government office in charge of investigating abuses of power (like those no-bid contracts) say they're "too busy" to investigate Cheney, despite having three times the case load when they approved a Clinton investigation, I'm not very free.
Again irrelevent to the topic of Freedom for citizens of this country. How did that affect your freedom?
If my uncle down south, along with others, is asked to leave his church because he's a card-carrying Democrat, I'm not very free.
Again in what way is he not free to start another church? Should the chruch be oblidged to keep in people they do not welcome? Should you be obliged to let weathly oil execs stay in your house for a week because they want to?
If wealthy people get billions of dollars and, as a result, we cripple state budgets and tens of thousands of people die because of a Hurricane, I'm not very free.
Depiste the pretty horrific leap to judgement and lack of train of thought, again how does that affect your freedom? Not at all.
The truth is, honest to God, I'd trade in my copy of "My Struggle" if it reversed all those things. Freedom is in the eye of the beholder.
If freedom is all relative, then you are only as free as you feel. thus America is indeed the land of the free for those that think they are. You are in a prision of your own devising, and should proabably try visitng someplace that really does understand what lack of freedom really is.
You just lack no notion at all of what freedom is, vs. what you see as corruption of the system. There is a very real difference between corruption and freedom and the sooner you understand this basic fact the sooner you might make more lucid arguments. My perscription is to have you read Reason for no less than two years and come back when you are a sensible Libertarian instead of a flaming liberal who forces Democrats to loose elections and throw the whole damn system out of wack.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I object to your simple-minded "simple test" for a country's freedom. piecewise offers a number of "if"s, of which I consider some much more relevant than the items of your simple test, and some less so. But I believe he missed out on a few important ones, which I would like to add. For conciseness, these tests are for non-freedom:
When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Rel
"Can you join a Nazi party in your Country? Many European Countries you can not, in the US, you can." Well, go and join Al Qaeda and see how long your freedom remains. I'd also suggest you read up on neo-nazism, there's still a few about in Europe. However, I'm quite happy that exterminating whole races of people is outlawed. Still, America are quite happy to do it themselves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Nazi