VoIP Backlash From Phone Companies

denis-The-menace writes "An article from the online edition of IEEE Spectrum says phone companies in France, Germany, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have announced they will block VoIP calls on their networks. Using new software from Narus Inc., the carriers can detect data packets belonging to VoIP applications and block the calls. Gotta love Ma Bell." From the article: "Narus's software does far more than just frustrate Skype users. It can also diagnose, and react to, denial-of-service attacks and dangerous viruses and worms as they wiggle through a network. It makes possible digital wiretaps, a capability that carriers are required by law to have. However, these positive applications for Narus's software may not be enough to make Internet users warm to its use. 'Protecting its network is a legitimate thing for a carrier to do ... But it's another thing for a Comcast to charge more if I use my own TiVo instead of the personal video recorder they provide, or for Time Warner, which owns CNN, to charge a premium if I want to watch Fox News on my computer.'"

Comments

Other Backlash, Thank TiVo?

[ackthpt]

Heineken will end TV adverts in the UK due to perception of declining connection with the core market, 18-26 year olds. It was mentioned on the BBC World Service that a possible further consideration was the use of Sky+ and TiVo which allow viewers to skip commercials. It could also be that the core group spend more time on the internet than watching TV.

So less return on television advertising, thanks to the evolution of technology, and what future does this have for television entertainment, if the place to advertise isn't the tube? Product placement, I suppose. Let's have a surreptitious party on the show with people having what is undeniably a very good time and feature Heineken cans/bottles, perhaps have an actor say, "this Heineken beer is excellent, much more flavourful then other leading brands."

Harlo Wilcox, Don Wilson and Bill Goodwin, your kind we shall meet again.

Common carrier status?

[strider3700]

I thought all of the phone companies qualify as common carriers and are not responsible for whats on their networks because they can't and shouldn't control it. Now that they have filtering ability for somethings they should be charged for every copied song and every piece of child porn moving on their wires.

Re:This will spur encrypted VoIP...

[jrockway]

Skype is encrypted and P2P. Yet they can still block it.

Also, if your VoIP service ever uses real phone lines, the telco can easily block it.

If this happened in the US, though, it would be an illegal abuse of their monopoly powers. When they start censoring certain data, they lose their common carrier status as well, so they become liable for all the child porn, viruses, illegal movie downloads, etc. that they transfer. Probably not a road they want to go down.

However, I guess cable companies in the US aren't common carriers, so they can (and do) block other VoIP. Someone needs to sue them for this -- it's absolutely ridiculous. When you break part of the Internet, you aren't an ISP anymore. You're a Content That We Cram Up Your Ass Service Provider... just like cable companies are already.

Personally, I use Speakeasy DSL which does nothing but route bits to and from my machine. That's the way the Internet should be!

Re:This will spur encrypted VoIP...

[Nogami_Saeko]

Skype doesn't use random ports and protocols does it? It needs to handshake the two programs before the encrypted data transfer starts, which probably makes it relatively easy to block at the router level.

That said, it shouldn't be impossible to masquerade VOIP data as something like a first-person shooter data stream (many of which have voice-chat already integrated), or by some other means that would result in the ISP/Telco blocking legitimate users as well and raising their angst level.

Fighting technology is a losing proposition for conventional telcos, so they better find a way to work with users rather than against them...

N.

Tried in Norway and Failed

[johnjaydk]

Telenor (old Norway monopoly) tried blocking Skype and failed in a big way. The customers revolted and wanted Skype unblocked. Telenor had to reverse and unblock Skype. Major publicity bummer.

I work in one of these oldfashioned phone companies. Due to our location international charges is a large part of our intake. Therefore we dont like Skype much. In fact we'd like this whole VoIP thing to be un-invented.

We tried looking into blocking and it's bad karma all the way. Trust me, the old guys loved the idea but the publicity would kill us. In the end we have to do VoIP ourself. Better to loose business to yourself than to somebody else. This of course provides me with interesting work so I'm not complaining ;-)

Here, Telcos and Cablecos are offering VOIP

[QuebecNerd]

Quite the oposite from France... Here in Québec, The two major Telcos wich are Bell Canada and Telus and the two major Cablecos wich are Videotron and Cogéco are all offering VOIP as we speak.

Since they are offering the service, I guess they would be very stupid to block it... Talk. about shooting yourself in the foot.

Today, companies are fighting any way they can to remain relevant in today's world. They can do that in two ways; Making the right moves at the right time to stay relevant like for example Koday did in the face of digital photography nearly 10 years ago OR forcing their clients to consider them relevant by screwing them when they don't have a choice (FOR NOW) like the RIAA and the CellCos do.

Sufice to say that this can only last for a given time and people remeber who screwed them...