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VOIP to be Made Illegal in India

Krish writes "Providers like Skype, Yahoo, Net2phone, Dialpad, etc. will not be able to offer VOIP in India under the proposed govt. clampdown. BPOs and other call centers will face the axe if they use any of the VOIP services provided by the above companies. It is not clear if this clampdown will affect regular home users."

258 comments

  1. Oh the irony... by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


    Call your VOIP carrier's helpdesk and you might get hold of some guy in India.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Oh the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny
      Call your VOIP carrier's helpdesk and you might get hold of some guy in India.
      LOL @ "might"
    2. Re:Oh the irony... by Harmonious+Botch · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But now we are less likely to because at least one part of call center expenses in India are going to cost MORE now. The more I think of this silly law, the more I like it.

    3. Re:Oh the irony... by RatRagout · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Great solution. Ban everything that is good, instead of doing an effort to provide something better. A billion people should be able to come up with something at least as good rather quick, but they're probably busy doing their daytime job for Skype or Yahoo...

    4. Re:Oh the irony... by siufish · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Why should it be otherwise?

      Ask yourself honestly: will you make any purchase decision based on whether the call centers are in India or in the US? How many times does it come up in your head when you are picking a VOIP carrier? Shopping for a digital camera? Deciding between a Amex or a Visa card?

      Now ask yourself the next question: will you make any purchase decision based on the price? If one VOIP costs $19.99/month and has call centers in India, and another costs $39.99/month and employs only American citizen call agents, which one will you choose?

      To businesses, call centers are "cost centers", and accordingly should be as cheap as possible. If they can make the same amount of money with cheaper call centers, they will. If customers don't care, they won't care.

    5. Re:Oh the irony... by jamesh · · Score: 4, Insightful
      To businesses, call centers are "cost centers", and accordingly should be as cheap as possible. If they can make the same amount of money with cheaper call centers, they will. If customers don't care, they won't care.

      That bit about customers not caring is so true. But as soon as you start spending money outside of your community (village/city/stage/country), it's gone.

      People go and buy imported goods (and services now it seems) because they save a few dollars, and then bitch and moan because another factory has closed down and they're out of work. It's your own f*cking fault people!!! If you're lucky enough to live in a country that protects working conditions, then ffs don't go and buy stuff from a country that doesn't. You're only ripping yourselves off.

    6. Re:Oh the irony... by b.burl · · Score: 1

      Great post, and the real reason behind the so called free-trade. I would also add, "lucky enough to live in a country that protects environmental conditions." has anyone been to the smelly sh1t hole that is China?

    7. Re:Oh the irony... by arivanov · · Score: 4, Interesting

      That may or may not be the case.

      1. The law has been in force for a very long time. Ask anyone who has actually done a proper costing and the legal aspects of outsourcing to India and they will tell you this.

      2. The law as such dissallows you to interface into a PBX or anything else which is also connected to the local network over there. In fact as far as the letter of law is concerned this is not that much different from telco regulations in many places around the world.

      3. The law does not dissallow you to host as many VOIP phones there as you like provided that they are off your own PBX located outside India and do not interface into the local phone network by any means. So a call center whose guts are located offshore is still fully legal. On(Indian)shore is very murky and it is not something call center outsourcers care about. After all the call center chickens working 10.5 hour shifts are usually not allowed local calls anyway.

      4. As far as Yahoo, Dialpad, etc are concerned they are simply required to be registered under the Indian telecoms regs to offer service. This for all practical purposes means that they or their subsidiaries will have to go under majority Indian ownerships. So much for WTO here (actually dunno if they are a member). In fact it is about time someone beat up India in terms of trade treaties and obligations on this.

      So overall, this law does not change anything as far as call centers are concerned. The Idian government is not mad to kill their primary GDP source. All it does is to ensure that the near-monopoly of Idian companies on the Idian telecoms market is retained for times to come.

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/
    8. Re:Oh the irony... by PaneerParantha · · Score: 4, Informative
      People do not seem to have read the article.

      It doesn't say that VOIP will be banned in India, it says:

      1. Illegal Web calls by BPOs face axe

      2. Companies...not use the services of unlicensed foreign service providers such as Net2Phone, Vonage, Dialpad, Impetus, Novanet, Euros, Skype and Yahoo

      3. According to official sources, foreign players such as Skype, in addition to disturbing the level-playing field for bonafide licensees, were also causing great revenue loss to the government as they did not pay the 12% service tax and 6% revenue share on internet telephony.

      4. The government move, when implemented, will fulfil a long-pending demand of internet service providers (ISPs).

      5. ...call centres and BPOs can ensure that they are availing services from an authorised service provider.
      IOW, VOIP won't be banned but more regulated.

      The headline of this story is sensationalist.

    9. Re:Oh the irony... by anothy · · Score: 3, Insightful
      i agree with this, but with a caveat.
      If a company cares about customer service, they will hire (for their United States customers) support staff that can properly service someone who speaks the US variety of English.
      this is true and vital, and plenty of companies have learned it, or are learning it now. but note that there's absolutely no reason why that person can't be Indian and in India. there are plenty of language schools in India that turn out people who're entirely fluent in english, including the american dialect.
      my experience working with engineers in India is that there's basically two ways companies can go about building a dev team in India. first, you can hire good engineers who cost aroudn 1/2 to 1/3 of what they'd cost in the US, and have at least roughly comparable skill levels. second, you can hire warm bodies who're engineers on paper, and you can get them for 1/5 to 1/10 of what similarly warm bodies would cost in the US. if whoever's in charge of hiring there understands that people are not fungible assets, you've got a good chance of getting a useful and productive team in India; if not, you're more or less screwed. my experience with customer support (other than as a customer) is more limited, but i have no reason to believe it's not the same there.
      i work with a guy who says things like "an indian could never understand me", where "understand" means "relate to". he gives examples of things like understanding baseball. wtf do i care if the customer support rep on the phone knows who won the Yankees game last night, regardless of where they are? there's legitimate points about language barrier and cultural differences impacting effective communication, and then there's flimsy rationalizations for stinking racism.
      --

      i speak for myself and those who like what i say.
    10. Re:Oh the irony... by CastrTroy · · Score: 0

      The problem is that people who live in India who can speak fluent english, that is understood by americans usually have some form of higher education and wouldn't be working in the call centre.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    11. Re:Oh the irony... by grub · · Score: 1


      If one VOIP costs $19.99/month and has call centers in India, and another costs $39.99/month and employs only American citizen call agents, which one will you choose?

      Neither, I'm not an American and am cell-only. :)

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    12. Re:Oh the irony... by Zwaxy · · Score: 2, Funny

      This is Slashdot. The headlines almost never reflect the true story.

    13. Re:Oh the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *nod* See Linksys, I won't buy their gear again.

    14. Re:Oh the irony... by amuzulo · · Score: 2, Funny

      This is Slashdot. Slashdotters almost never read the article.

      --
      WikiCreole - a common wiki markup language
    15. Re:Oh the irony... by anothy · · Score: 1

      not true, or at least not generally so. two things to consider.
      first, there are schools which specialize in just doing this type of language education. there is no requirement of "higher education" as we think of it. they're often called "finishing schools", and their job is just to help participants overcome the language barrier. they do this for participants from different backgrounds and headed towards different fields. it's therefore possible to find people with perfectly fine english without any particular advanced education to speak of.
      second, and much more important, the labor market in india is wildly different from anything we know of in the west. unemployment is in the double-digits, and most of the people who are employed (that is, >50%) are either under-employed or casual workers. the bulk of the labor force is engaged in "unorganized labor", which doesn't provide anything resembling health care or other benefits. in that sort of environment, it's much more difficult to predict where someone with a given background or education level will end up. call centers are still considered "good jobs", and competition to get those jobs is strong. it's a very different world.

      --

      i speak for myself and those who like what i say.
    16. Re:Oh the irony... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1
      As far as Yahoo, Dialpad, etc are concerned they are simply required to be registered under the Indian telecoms regs to offer service. This for all practical purposes means that they or their subsidiaries will have to go under majority Indian ownerships. So much for WTO here (actually dunno if they are a member). In fact it is about time someone beat up India in terms of trade treaties and obligations on this.

      India would be idiotic not to do this and so would any other nation. Look at how well it's working for China!

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    17. Re:Oh the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. By those, I mean you.
      Wikipedia "The Great Depression" and see were protectionism gets you. Luckily and despite some peoples best efforts, knee jerk myopic reactionaries aren't in charge anymore.

    18. Re:Oh the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ha what a joke someone who cannot spell India correctly and repeatedly misspells it as Idia and dont know what is WTO , look who is talking about monopoly here , any idea why India is still poor if it such a monopolist as you claim
      Cheers
      A Humble Indian

    19. Re:Oh the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Or maybe you can use your superior infrastructure, education system, etc to produce something useful enough that people in other countries will buy it from you.

    20. Re:Oh the irony... by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      I wonder what implications the law has for VOIP software itself. After all, the only reason you need to pay a company like Skype is to use their proxy services. If you have a SIP softphone and know the URL of someone else with a SIP softphone you can call them directly.

      The headline of this story is sensationalist.

      This is Slashdot, what do you expect?

    21. Re:Oh the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Wal*Mart principle at work.

    22. Re:Oh the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly, this is precisely why the Amish standard of living will never be threatened by outsourcing

    23. Re:Oh the irony... by Shihar · · Score: 2, Interesting

      If a company cares about customer service, they will hire (for their United States customers) support staff that can properly service someone who speaks the US variety of English. It's hard enough convincing Time Warner representatives located just a few miles from here that the problem is on their end. I'd cancel their service if I had to deal with a language barrier too. I guess this customer cares.

      While there is some danger is using an Indian call center, it isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It is like out sourcing anywhere. There are some shitty operations that literally pull people off the street and have them babble in thickly Indian accented English that is utterly incomprehensible to your average American. There are also plenty of institution that use people who speak perfectly good English and can tone down their accent to be perfectly understandable to your average American.

      I just had experience with just such a call center. I had to call the same damn company three times, and each time got an Indian call center. They were polite, well spoken, and while I could detect a slight accent, it was no harder to understand then if it had been an Alabama call center. Not withstanding the constant fuck-ups of the company unrelated to the call center, their service was fine.

    24. Re:Oh the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why don't you read the content. he clearly says that the axe will fall on BPO and there is no info about home users. It appears Slashdot readers just read the title.

    25. Re:Oh the irony... by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      Dude, I read the content I know it doesn't mention home users which is why I was wondering how the law will affect them.

    26. Re:Oh the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Ha what a joke someone who cannot spell India correctly and repeatedly misspells it as Idia and dont know what is WTO , look who is talking about monopoly here , any idea why India is still poor if it such a monopolist as you claim
      Cheers
      A Humble Idian
      Vishnu called, he wants his supposed "humbility" back.
    27. Re:Oh the irony... by xhgcqreq · · Score: 1
      ... your community (village/city/stage/country)...
      ... my community (village/city/state/country/continent/world)...
    28. Re:Oh the irony... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I agree, he sounds like a total indiot.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    29. Re:Oh the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there are plenty of language schools in India that turn out people who're entirely fluent in english, including the american dialect.

      Do any of them teach you how to start a sentence with a capital letter?

    30. Re:Oh the irony... by CKW · · Score: 1

      Not only that, but a person that speaks english well and is authorized to HELP the customer instead of hinder - will EARN business.

      I bought a 7-11 pay-as-you-go phone, and it was supposed to come with $10 air-credit. It only had $4 on it. I guess someone at the store "broke the seal" and used it a bit. So I called up customer service. It was an American (southern accent) and with no hesitation (after asking when/where I bought it) he threw another full $10 credit on it (giving me $14 credit). The call took all of 2 minutes. That alone EARNED my loyalty. I'll be with them a long long time.

    31. Re:Oh the irony... by anothy · · Score: 1

      yes, many. many don't, however, as the focus in the field is strongly on verbal communication; issues like punctuation and similar written language issues simply never come up. i don't have a breakdown between how many fall in each category.

      why do you ask?

      --

      i speak for myself and those who like what i say.
  2. Just one more effort by zappepcs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    of the uninformed to try to control what they have no clue about in order to protect outdated and now irrelevant business models... sigh

    1. Re:Just one more effort by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ...that 'outdated and irrelevant business model' would be the government, seeing as they are, according to TFA, pissed off that the VOIP companies are not paying their taxes.

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    2. Re:Just one more effort by bky1701 · · Score: 1

      Your point being? ;)

      But seriously, this sounds like a violation of SOME trade agreement. Not everything people in your country use can be taxed all the time.

    3. Re:Just one more effort by Broken+scope · · Score: 1

      Really? Try to tell a government that.

      --
      You mad
    4. Re:Just one more effort by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 2, Funny

      So when people play everquest and chat it should be taxable to?

      And the irony of the low cost labor provider of the world being mad because of low cost (FREE) products is priceless.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    5. Re:Just one more effort by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't think anybody said that. This is, however, not just some random decision by the Indian government to OMG CENSOR TEH INTARWEB TUBES! as the headline pretends.

      It's a standard, relatively sane, completely understandable move. Hell, I'm 90% sure the FCC has already done this.

      Now, there are a lot of reasons why it's not a good thing. But that doesn't detract from any of the above.

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    6. Re:Just one more effort by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

      Right now.

      I'm sitting in everquest and listening to people from all over the world as well as we are on a raid.

      Sam Malone Style, FREE!

      How do you justify taxing something that's free?

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    7. Re:Just one more effort by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You've never heard of proposals to tax work done in video games? The theory is, work is being done, and value is being accumulated from it. Therefore, that value should be taxable.

      That is, after all, how taxes work.

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    8. Re:Just one more effort by funkdancer · · Score: 1

      Well, will pay with my virtual gold coins then. If I could ever be bothered to hang up my sim racing gear long enough to reactivate my Level 60 Paladin. ;)

      --
      ISO certified == THX certified
    9. Re:Just one more effort by timmarhy · · Score: 1

      Yes, and taxing this work will amount to CHILD LABOUR, since many people who play these games are young children. it doesn't take much imagination to see the PR nightmare i could spin up over that.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    10. Re:Just one more effort by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 1

      Why? The government isn't making you do the labour. If you spin it up as child labour, the government bans children from playing video games.

      Exactly how is this a good thing?

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    11. Re:Just one more effort by ccmay · · Score: 1
      ...that 'outdated and irrelevant business model' would be the government, seeing as they are, according to TFA, pissed off that the VOIP companies are not paying their taxes.

      Well, there's a simple answer to that. Gather a mob, shoot the bureaucrats between the eyes, and burn down their building. Rinse and repeat as necessary. The world would be a better place if this happened more frequently.

      -ccm

      --
      Too much Law; not enough Order.
    12. Re:Just one more effort by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 1
      This quote perfectly deals with both the issue and your sig:

      The common phrase "law and order" is often used mistakenly as a misleading cliche, with emphasis on the "order" part of the phrase, with slight regard for "law". Under a regime of law, a developed legal system imposes restraints on the quest for order. By contrast, a self-help system bypasses such restraints and leans toward the extralegal enforcement of order. Historically, private violence, sometimes in conjunction with constituted authority and sometimes not, came to be used as an instrument for enforcing a system of social, political, economic, and -perhaps most significantly- cultural arrangements against the claims of those whose actions, and whose very existence, were seen as threatening.

      -Above the Law: Police and the Excessive Use of Force, Skolnick, Jerome, and Fyfe, James.
      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    13. Re:Just one more effort by Jeffrey+Baker · · Score: 1

      You may want to brush up on the concept of sovereign power. There's nothing a functioning government cannot tax. In the USA, for example, the only thing that can't be taxed is the exercise of some inalienable right. For example, you cannot be taxed for voting. But damn near anything else is taxable.

    14. Re:Just one more effort by 400049 · · Score: 1

      It's nothing like that. The government of India is trying to control the voip calls from these providers to let indian VOIP industry grow, which is still very much in its infancy. Providers like Sify et al provide VOIP service in India and hence this conclusion that Indian Government is going to ban VOIP on the whole is not true. Infact this directive is only for BPO/KPOs and individuals can still buy skype talk time to call Europe, US and elsewhere. BPO/KPOs having huge margins can easily channel some money to Indian providers so that some healthy VOIP providers could grow there which are not able to do so due to presence of large(which are mostly global firms) and mature businesses already present. There is also an angle of illegal telephone exchanges in India using whihc big firms call clients in US and elsewhere and thus not only hurt revenue collections of the government but also the highly competitve and cut throat market of telecommunication in India. Also prevailing secuirty conditions does not allow Indian Government to be lax about calls made from/to pakistan. Finally those who are raising so much hue and cry over a matter which prima facia seems of protecting domestic industry before it is ready for global competition and NOT of rights, USA government or for that matter governments all over the world have done this kind of domestic industry protection and are still doing it. Let me inform you that US government protects its agriculture industry in a BIG way. Let USA government stop all concessions to Agriculture sector and lower entry taxes and you will soon realize that not only your software runs on Indian brain but your brain is actually made up of Indian wheat!

    15. Re:Just one more effort by b.burl · · Score: 1
      It's f'ing Voip! Their not defiling your sister.

      And, btw, legislators (senators/congresspeople/MP's/etc) that make laws. Bureaucrats are just government employees. And if your advocating killing duly elected representatives...well you just sound stupid. And I'm being charitable when I write that.

    16. Re:Just one more effort by Secrity · · Score: 1

      Telecommunications tax (or monopoly) on telephone calls is likely to be considered to be one item by the government. If it is a tax issue, it is not unusual for telephone calls to be taxed, and some governments consider VoIP to be evading taxes. Although in India's case they may killing a golden cash cow because this is going to raise costs to their outsourcing industry.

    17. Re:Just one more effort by bloobloo · · Score: 1

      That's true. For a country that exists in isolation. Real countries sign treaties with each other that result in obligations that they must follow. For WTO members such as India they are not allowed to introduce Technical Barriers to Trade, for example. If the licensing process is open equally to foreign companies then this is perfectly fine. If it is not, then this would be a new TBT.

    18. Re:Just one more effort by GPierce · · Score: 1

      Surprise! Voting is not an unalienable right. In Florida, any number of people were disenfranchised because a bogus database said that the had been guilty of a felony. In the case of some, the "date" of the felony was in the future. Many of them still can't vote.

      If you want a list of your "unalienable" rights, you have to read the Supreme Court verdict in what are called the "Slaughterhouse Cases" from around 1873. The Supreme Court did not know how to deal with the concept, so it listed your "unalienable rights". You might be surprised at what they are.

      --

      When you are dancing with wolves, never limp
    19. Re:Just one more effort by Pinback · · Score: 1

      OK, where does my unemployable video game character sign up for welfare?

    20. Re:Just one more effort by tgrigsby · · Score: 1

      Oh come on. This is easy: the call centers are making HUGE amounts of money, and the Indian government is simply tapping into the revenue stream by taxing infrastructure usage. Anything that threatens that is going to get slapped down.

      --
      *** *** You're just jealous 'cause the voices talk to me... ***
  3. In classic Slashdot form... by bronzey214 · · Score: 1, Interesting

    ...I didn't read the article, but... WHY exactly is VOIP so bad that the government needs to ban it??

    1. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The short answer: Tax money. VIOP providers were not paying it, so the government is making them illegal.

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    2. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by stoolpigeon · · Score: 4, Informative

      they aren't banning it. they are banning the use of voip that comes from outside the country, doesn't pay taxes, isn't bound by Indian law, etc.

      --
      It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
    3. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by jrockway · · Score: 4, Funny

      And that's exactly why we have strong cryptography.

      Government: You're illegally calling people.
      You: No, that's e-mail.
      Government: Oh.

      --
      My other car is first.
    4. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Ironsides · · Score: 2, Funny

      Here's the revised Government with half a brain:

      Government: You're illegally calling people.
      You: No, that's e-mail.

      Government:You're sending e-mail for 8 hours a day and sending and receiving the same amount in email bytes?

      --
      Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
    5. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 1

      Or even:

      Government: You're illegally calling people.
      You: No, that's e-mail.
      Government: Prove it, or go to jail.
      You: ...er...
      Government: Bye bye!

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    6. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Here's the British Government:

      Government: You're illegally calling people.
      You: No, that's e-mail.
      Government:Turn over the cryptographic keys so that we know it's email, or spend the next 30 years in jail.

      (that's right, in UK it's a crime to not turn over your cryptographic keys/passes.)

    7. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by salesgeek · · Score: 1

      In other words: they are going censor the internet because they can't tax a foreign company. Nice.

      --
      -- $G
    8. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by dagamer34 · · Score: 1

      wow, that's like saying, "hey, i want to incriminate myself."

    9. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Archfeld · · Score: 1

      They are also attempting to ensure that all relevant emergency information is available to a call center should the need arise...Hard for 911 to find you if your call is routed via Uzbekistan, while you are in Auckland. There is also the issue of maintenance costs which are derived from licensee fee's.

      --
      errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    10. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 0

      Not exactly. It's more like the government wiretapping your phone. The only reason the law exists requiring you to hand over encryption keys is because the government doesn't have the supercomputing strength availible to break it in a reasonable period of time.

      The alternative, of course, is that the government can hold you without bail and put off your trial until its supercomputers finish decrypting your communications to be used as evidence.

      Which would you rather?

      Frankly, it's nothing at all like self-incrimination, either legally or logically.

      The only similarities are at most superficial.

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    11. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by egr · · Score: 2, Funny

      Government: He's illegally calling people. Get him! You: No, that's e-mail. Government: He's sending e-mail. Get him!

    12. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It used to be very expensive to build phone lines so they charged to make phone calls.

      Since they charged a large amount of money, it was convenient to put a tax on that charge.

      VoIP is basically free. If you want to pay someone for higher quality you can but there are so many ways to talk via voice over the internet now it's insane. I can't see how the indian government is going to do this against private individuals any more than they can stop porn, drugs, sex chat, etc.

      I think they can make businesses use taxable voip, but data is data for private people.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    13. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by jrockway · · Score: 1

      > (that's right, in UK it's a crime to not turn over your cryptographic keys/passes.)

      Who mentioned the UK?

      The solution is to not know your own passphrase (as per OTR's encryption).

      --
      My other car is first.
    14. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative
      In other words: they are going censor the internet because they can't tax a foreign company. Nice.

      The United States does that also.

      The difference is, the Indian politicians are having a discussion and planning and what not. The US politicians just slipped the law into a "terrorism" bill at 9:30 p.m. the day before it got voted on, without discussion.

      So if you live in the US, don't get to upset with the Indian government. The Indians are probably more free than we are.

    15. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by svallarian · · Score: 1

      No no no, these are indian tech support we're talking about here. You know they can't say ANYTHING without spitting out an entire paragraph response to the simplest question like
      "What is your name?"

      So the bytes would be waaaay off.

      --
      I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
    16. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by jonwil · · Score: 1

      Actually, its more like having a wall safe and the government forcing you to open that safe.

      The solution (at least for interactive communication such as voice, video, IM, IM file transfer, remote computer access/control etc) is to implement a system where providing the key is impossible. The 2 ends of the link (such as VoIP software and a VoIP server or whatever) would communicate and generate a shared secret key via Diffie-Hellman key exchange or similar. Then this shared secret key would be used to encrypt the communications. Once the communictions are over (say, the VoIP call is hung up), both ends forget the shared secret and no-one can ever decrypt the information again. Since the users never see the shared secret and are never given any options to store it permanently, it is physically impossible to provide decryption keys to law enforcement.

      If someone made such a program using open, standard, well tested (and patent free) encryption algorithims and principles and made the program itself open source (as well as documenting the protocol completly), it would make it even harder to stop.

    17. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Then the government throws you in jail until it can forcibly decrypt the datastream, which is, if you're using a good cryptosystem, never.

      That's why the british law is on the books- to prevent people from using systems exactly like this. Let's say you're charged with murder, but the evidence is locked up in this cryptostream. You can provide the keys, and have the government jail you for murder, or you can not provide the keys, the government, having no evidence, will drop the murder charge, and slam you with thirty years in prison for impropper use of crypto. You're punished the same either way.

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    18. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Mac+Degger · · Score: 1

      "They are also attempting to ensure that all relevant emergency information is available to a call center should the need arise"

      Why is there a need to co-opt a system like that? We didn't have it before and we did fine. If I was paranoid, I'd say it had to do with the monitoring they're putting in place (location, remote turning on of microphones on mobiles in standby mode). Even not being paranoid I think it's strange...they want to add all these features which we don't really need/want but still have to pay for in our service contracts...and then they tax us on top of it?

      Now I know VoIP and the mobile mesh are different systems...but I'm still miffed.

      --
      -- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
    19. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Frankly, it's nothing at all like self-incrimination, either legally or logically.

      It's exactly like self-incrimination, both legally and logically. Law enforcement in the U.S. can seize the keys under a subpoena, but there is no requirement that you tell them where they are. In fact, the fifth amendment specifically allows someone not to answer any question for fear of self-incrimination. The question, "Where/What are the encryption keys?" would fall under that umbrella as it would potentially provide evidence against you. The police might as well ask, "Where did you hide the illegal drugs?"

      There's a reason why the first words out of an officer's mouth when making an arrest are, "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..." In other words, you should truthfully provide only your identity to the police, then act as if you were a mute from there on out.

      Wire-tapping is more like search and seizure. Law officers can tap the line with court authority in order to seize your communications. However, you still have a free right to use a phone scrambler to hide your communications. It may look suspicious, but there would be little the police could do about it. (Most likely, they'd bug your handset.) Of course, if you're relying on scrambling or encryption provided by, say, your cell phone company, then you're in trouble. Since the cell phone company would not be under investigation, they would be legally required to comply with a court order to turn over the encryption keys. Failure to do so would get them slapped with an "obstruction of justice" charge.

      Disclaimer: IANAL, but I have stayed at the Holiday Inn Express.
    20. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 0

      No. Your mistake is that in the case of self-incrimination, the police do not have the evidence- they are looking to you to provide it. You are not obligated to do so.

      However, in the case of an encrypted communication, the police are in possession of the evidence, they simply cannot read it. You are obligated to help them do that (in this case. Obviously the police have to know the evidence they want is in fact encrypted- if you were to fiddle with it so you were writing in linguistic code rather than mathematical, so they don't know what they're holding is evidence, they're not going to ask for it to be decrypted either...) and therefore this does not fall under self-incrimination.

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    21. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 1


      (that's right, in UK it's a crime to not turn over your cryptographic keys/passes.)


      Except that like so many laws in the UK, it's been proved to be unenforceable, and is therefore ignored.

    22. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Informative
      However, in the case of an encrypted communication, the police are in possession of the evidence, they simply cannot read it. You are obligated to help them do that

      That is out and out incorrect. Under U.S. law, you have a right to remain silent. Period, end of story, not a single thing more to add. You don't need to explain any knick knacks to them, you don't have to give them your keys to your house, and you sure as hell don't have to give them a codebook to your coded diary just because the cops think you have written down your dirty deeds in there.

      You are to remain silent at all times unless you want the police to use your words against you. That is a guaranteed fifth amendment right, and is the FIRST THING that cops tell you. If they don't tell you that you have the right to shut up, they can actually lose a case for failing to inform you of your rights.

      What you are describing is the very definition of self-incrimination.

      The U.S. used to have a law-enforcement method similar to the U.K. law you are describing. Under that law, strong encryption was classified as a munition, and required a license to use. However, we also have a law about the punishment fitting the crime. Specifically, the eigth amendment states, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Which means that the punishment for using unlicensed strong crypto was not to exceed the realistic damages caused by that usage, on a case by case basis. 30 years in jail would be considered extremely excessive for an otherwise minor violation.

      Since then, strong crypto has been redefined under U.S. Law, allowing free access to all.
    23. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 1

      Sure. You have the right to remain silent... and the court has the right to throw you in jail for the rest of your life for contempt of court, and it has done so. The court has shown itself perfectly willing to impose a rolling punishment for contempt- i.e., they throw you in jail, and every year they bring you out and ask you if you're willing to comply. If you're not, they throw you back in.

      Given that the original intention was presumably to put you in jail in the first place, you win nothing by refusing to surrender your encryption keys.

      We can play semantic games all day long. The fact of the matter is, in either Britain or the United States, you give up your crypto keys or you get thrown in jail for not giving up your crypto keys.

      In any way that matters, you are obligated to surrender your cryptographic keys to the court on demand.

      (Moreover, there are quite a few circumstances under which the police are not required to read you your Miranda rights- one of those is if they simply aren't going to introduce anything you say into testimony, because the physical evidence is so strong.) ..Woah. Deja Vu. If I'm not mistaken, this was basically an exact copy of my first conversation as a real username on slashdot!

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    24. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't be stupid. It is the domestic companies which are evading taxation. Hence they have made it illegal unless you get a permit.

    25. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by zcat_NZ · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Sure. You have the right to remain silent... and the court has the right to throw you in jail for the rest of your life for contempt of court, and it has done so. The court has shown itself perfectly willing to impose a rolling punishment for contempt- i.e., they throw you in jail, and every year they bring you out and ask you if you're willing to comply. If you're not, they throw you back in.

      Just in case anyone doubts the truth of this, Kay Skelton is locked away as I post on a contempt of court charge. Six weeks so far, and will probably be spending Christmas in a cell.

      jfgi.

      Wish we could get some of that in the SCO lawsuit..

      --
      455fe10422ca29c4933f95052b792ab2
    26. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Nasarius · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Irrelevant. Read the damn Constitution. It only protects you from being forced to testify against YOURSELF. Skelton is in jail for refusing to give information about SOMEONE ELSE.

      --
      LOAD "SIG",8,1
    27. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by g1zmo · · Score: 2, Funny

      Me: I like to keep my email bytes uniformly sized. It makes them flow through the tubes much more smoothly and prevents clogging.

      Government: But it's unintelligble noise, suspiciously like untaxed VOIP calls to Osama.

      Me: Ummm....and it prevents kiddy porn too.

      Government: Well in that case, someone ought to sponsor a bill right away. Good work, citizen.

      --
      I have found there are just two ways to go.
      It all comes down to livin' fast or dyin' slow.
      -REK, Jr.
    28. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by thej1nx · · Score: 2, Informative
      Basically telephony in India is government run. In short any payment you make for making phone calls international or otherwise, counts towards what is a major revenue for the government. The government has already made substantial investment in the telephonic infrastructure as well, to simply abandon it.

      Now enters the Internet into the picture. It is much much cheaper, and since you are already paying your broadband bill anyways, calls are virtually free. Which means the public and businesses stop using the traditional system and government starts losing its revenue.

      It is not much of a problem if just some individuals do it. But lots of operators have cropped up which set up shop in some highrise housing lots of companies and offer this cheaper alternative to *all* the companies in it, to make their calls abroad. Government starts losing substantial revenue as a result.

      It is not even easy to tax these operators. This being internet, there is no easy way of tracking how many calls were made and for how long. And each call made via VOIP means loss of business for the government run telephony department.

      As a result you see the ban. It is not censorship. All it means is, that if you setup some major operation offering VOIP services to businesses ... and take substantial revenue away from the government... it is illegal. It is all about the money.

    29. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by thej1nx · · Score: 1
      Don't be stupid. They are worried about the loss of revenue to their own Telephone department, thanks to all the corporates making their mass-scale international phone calls via the unregistered VOIP operator, instead of via their own telephony system. The unregistered Indian VOIP operator is stealing government revenue away and paying back the government nothing.


      The VOIP is still legal in India. You just need to pay the license fee to the government for it. And any company expecting to do business in India must pay for the same priviledge anyways. Same as all foreign companies doing business in USA are still expected to pay their taxes to USA govt. Stop being a hypocrite.

    30. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

      > are in possession of the evidence

      Without trailing off into philosophy or metaphysical concepts...

      If the data you possess is useless to you without further information (ie. the key), do you actually "possess" the information the data contains?

      I suppose this can only really be true for One-Time Pads - where it is actually impossible to recover the information without knowing the key.

    31. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Ham_belony · · Score: 0

      So, if a service is provided outside India, they still need to pay taxes? Well, they would need to make everything illegal from mmorpgs to internet shopping.

    32. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by b.burl · · Score: 1

      Voip is NOT free...Lets not forget that to use VOIP you need access to a computer and a fast internet connection. This fits the profile of what percentage of Indians?

    33. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Me: I used IPSec with a one-time pad. Go f*** yourselves.

    34. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How else is a protection racket supposed to operate?

    35. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by EllisDees · · Score: 1

      >Just in case anyone doubts the truth of this, Kay Skelton is locked away as I post...

      Yes, in New Zealand, not in the US. You cannot be forced to incriminate yourself in this country. Sure, they can intercept your communications, but if they cannot decipher them, tough luck!

      --
      -- Give me ambiguity or give me something else!
    36. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1
      Sure. You have the right to remain silent... and the court has the right to throw you in jail for the rest of your life for contempt of court, and it has done so.

      They cannot throw you in jail for exercising your fifth amendment rights. And I dare you to prove otherwise.

      The Kay Skeleton issue that someone used as an example is two fold:

      1. It's a New Zealand case, not a U.S. case.
      2. Fifth amendment rights are narrowly defined. Since the issue is finding a child who is separated from his parents (and potentially in danger), Ms. Skeleton would have no rights to not disclose the location.
    37. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by pithen · · Score: 1

      Since the issue is finding a child who is separated from his parents (and potentially in danger), Ms. Skeleton would have no rights to not disclose the location. Is that true? My understanding of the law would be that the mother would not have to disclose the location of the daughter, as that would incriminate her. However, I would think she could be held in contempt for not disclosing the location of her husband, as his location would not necessarily imply her involvement in any wrong doing.

      Of course, the above assumes this was a US case, which it is not.
    38. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...it's been proved to be unenforceable, and is therefore ignored.

      This statement is based on a fallacy. Given that the RIPA key disclosure requirements have not yet been 'activated' (see http://www.itpro.co.uk/news/98805/new-ripa-act-pow ers-puts-data-security-at-risk.html) they cannot be proven to be enforceable or unenforceable - yet.

    39. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by nyboi630 · · Score: 1

      Actually, you can be forced to testify against yourself, just not incriminate yourself. For example, if you were granted immunity from prosecution, they can force you to testify about anything.

    40. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by aderuwe · · Score: 1

      _Everything_ is about the money. The only thing more sad than that fact is people still looking for other explanations.

      A.

    41. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by sbrown123 · · Score: 1

      >they aren't banning it. they are banning the use of voip that comes from outside the country, doesn't pay taxes, isn't bound by Indian law, etc.

      If thats the case, they are employing government level protectism and should have their membership removed from the WTO.

    42. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah. In the USA they just send you to 'Gitmo

    43. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 1
      Very well. I suggest you reference Fischer v. United States, pp 402-414, in which the court wrote:

      Although the attorney-client privilege applies to documents in the hands of an attorney which would have been privileged in the hands of the client by reason of the Fifth Amendment, the taxpayer-clients in these cases would not be protected by that Amendment from producing the documents in question, because production of such documents involves no incriminating testimony and therefore the documents in the hands of the taxpayers' attorneys were not immune from production.

                    (a) The Fifth Amendment does not independently proscribe the compelled production of every sort of incriminating evidence but applies only when the accused is compelled to make a testimonial communication that is incriminating. P. 408.

                  (b) Here, however incriminating the contents of the accountants' workpapers might be, the act of producing them - the only thing that the taxpayers are compelled to do - would not itself involve testimonial self-incrimination, and implicitly admitting the existence and possession of the papers does not rise to the level of testimony within the protection of the Fifth Amendment. Pp. 409-414.


      Arguably, (although to my knowledge a US court has not actually examined this specific issue), the fifth amendment does not apply in this situation since the evidence compelled is not incriminating in any way, shape, or form. In and of itself, it has no strategic value.

      According to section b), the act of producing them, [the encryption keys] would similarly not involve testimonial self-incrimination.

      As held in United States v. Hubbell,

      Similarly, the fact that incriminating evidence may be the byproduct of obedience to a regulatory requirement, such as filing an income tax return, maintaining required records, or reporting an accident, does not clothe such required conduct with the testimonial privilege.


      Moreover, the court has long held that only the defendant in a criminal trial has any fifth amendment protection whatsoever, so the court could force production of the keys from the other side of the communication channel even if for some reason the fifth amendment prevented them from retrieving them from the defendant.

      This argument is similar to the forced production of keys to a safe, which has been a debatable issue.

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    44. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      there are quite a few circumstances under which the police are not required to read you your Miranda rights

      Police don't have to Mirandize you at all. But if they don't, any information they get out of you (generally) can't be used against you.

    45. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 1
      Very well. I suggest you reference Fischer v. United States, pp 402-414, in which the court wrote:

      Did you actually read that case? The court was NOT compelling the defendent to produce the documents, but rather his tax attorney. Since the tax attorney was not on trial and the judge found no client-attorney privledges in those documents, the attorney was forced to turn them over. Section 1, Paragraph (a) gives the relevant portion of the decision:

      (a) Whether or not the Fifth Amendment would have barred a subpoena directing the taxpayers to produce the documents while they were in their hands, the taxpayers' privilege under that Amendment is not violated by enforcing the summonses because enforcement against a taxpayer's lawyer would not "compel" the taxpayer to do anything, and certainly would not [425 U.S. 391, 392] compel him to be a "witness" against himself, and the fact that the attorneys are agents of the taxpayers does not change this result. Couch v. United States, 409 U.S. 322 . Pp. 396-398.

      The judge just said in that paragraph that he cannot compell the defendent! They can seize all the evidence they want, just as long as it's not directly from the defendent himself.

      As held in United States v. Hubbell,

      You should have read the rest of that document. United States v. Hubbell was overturned in the Supreme Court because the defendent had been compelled to produce documentation against his fifth amendment rights. The portion you quoted was the decision that certain actions could be justly construed as not witnessing against one's self. It was then compared against the actions taken in the case to show that the defendent had indeed been forced to provide witness against himself.

      http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?n avby=CASE&court=US&vol=530&page=27

      Moreover, the court has long held that only the defendant in a criminal trial has any fifth amendment protection whatsoever, so the court could force production of the keys from the other side of the communication channel even if for some reason the fifth amendment prevented them from retrieving them from the defendant.

      That they could. As I've said all along, only the defendent himself has fifth amendment protection. However, that protection is extremely strong and does not allow the court to order access to potentially incriminating evidence from the defendent, as held by United States v. Hubbell. The court is thus forced to look for other avenues of obtaining the evidence, such as the remote party.

      Try again.
    46. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by KinkoBlast · · Score: 0
      There's a reason why the first words out of an officer's mouth when making an arrest are, "You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..." In other words, you should truthfully provide only your identity to the police, then act as if you were a mute from there on out.

      WRONG!

      Why do people think that you have to have your writes read (or recited from memory) to you? You do NOT. They only have to read you your rights IF THEY ARE GOING TO QUESTION YOU.
    47. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Syrrh · · Score: 1

      No, no, NO!

      It's like... a bad analogy, that makes you come up with another bad analogy as a counterargument. (Hm. Meant to be insulting/ironic, but I guess that's sorta correct.)

      It doesn't matter. The Indian gov't is not banning VOIP as the the frantic headline said. It doesn't care if you do a data-to-data call. Or run a webcam. Or a complete virtual reality sensory and mental link to the hivemind through tcp/ip. All TFA is talking about is data-to-pbx where it will then go out on an actual phone line. Since the PBX is all the telecoms can see, they can't trace calls or seat licenses or anything like that. That's it.

    48. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Meph_the_Balrog · · Score: 1

      Make me wish I had mod points why doncha! =)

    49. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by Boronx · · Score: 1

      You have a right not to incriminate yourself. You don't have a right not to incriminate others.

    50. Re:In classic Slashdot form... by thej1nx · · Score: 1
      And your point is?


      The India government is concerned only regards the bulk loss of revenue from the international calls from corporate companies. Their concern are the Indian operators setting up shop in some highrise housing lots of companies, and offering these companies much cheaper way of making international calls via VOIP.

      Are you under some illusion that these corporates don't have access to a computer or a fast internet connection?

  4. It's not the phone company by WhiteDragon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I expected this was a phone company wanting to maintain their monopoly, but apparently it's the government wanting to capitalize on taxing VOIP services, and American (and other) providers are obviously not going to pay taxes to the government of India.

    --
    Did you mount a military-grade, variable-focus MASER on an unlicensed artificial intelligence?
    1. Re:It's not the phone company by carpeweb · · Score: 1

      Lots of American multinationals pay taxes to foreign governments. In fact, the system of international taxation is mind-numbing. Although I think it might be shooting itself in the balls (by making Indian call centers more expensive), it's not surprising to see a government try to tax economic activity. To steal from Willie Sutton (an irony he certainly would have appreciated), "that's where the money is".

      Although the article was written in a foreign language (English with Indian TLAs), I gather that domestic ISPs and telcos are subject to these taxes, so I'm sure that's part of the motivation. I didn't get far enough to see whether anyone considered just allowing the foreign invaders to play by the same tax rules.

    2. Re:It's not the phone company by sanyam_y · · Score: 1

      This is actually true. The state-owned telecom company BSNL is expected to start it's VOIP services next month. So the message from govt. is: Want to use VOIP? Buy it from us otherwise it is illegal.

    3. Re:It's not the phone company by thej1nx · · Score: 1
      Don't be nuts. Yes it *is* a phone company wanting to maintain their monopoly. What you are obviously clueless about is the fact that International Telephony in India is more or less government run. *Indian* VOIP operators open up shop, and lure corporates to switching to their services... which means loss of revenue to the government run telephone company for all the international calls that would have otherwise been made through government's service.


      They couldn't care less about what American companies are doing abroad. In any country, you can't expect to steal away government revenue and expect to win.

    4. Re:It's not the phone company by sanyam_y · · Score: 1

      I don't understand. If I am not using government laid cables to send my message, why should I pay them. Going by this decision, they should also consider banning free e-mail service providers. Since they 'steal' revenue from the state-run postal service department.

    5. Re:It's not the phone company by Explodicle · · Score: 1

      This almost seems to indicate... that taxing phone use is an inherently stupid idea! *gasp*

    6. Re:It's not the phone company by WhiteDragon · · Score: 1

      Okay, I admit, I didn't realize that the phone company was government-owned, but that doesn't change much. This is more or less like net neutrality taken to an extreme degree, since presumably those call centers have already paid for the bandwidth they are using.

      --
      Did you mount a military-grade, variable-focus MASER on an unlicensed artificial intelligence?
    7. Re:It's not the phone company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just as Indian workers (H1-B) in the USA are forced to pay FICA taxes (social security and medicare) that they have no chance of ever making use of because very soon most of then have to leave the country in a few years and never come back.

    8. Re:It's not the phone company by thej1nx · · Score: 1
      True. But if you find out that revenue from source A is not sufficient to match the loss of revenue from source B, what do you do?


      They have already fixed the amount your average broadband company pays to the government for its license fee. Now they find out that VOIP is disturbing that equation by making them loss the money from international calls that these Indian corporates make. So all they have done is that any VOIP operator doing business in India, now has to pay a license fee for that too. Thus the revenue is back to what was planned.

      It has nothing to do with censorship or net neutrality. And everything to do with the money.

    9. Re:It's not the phone company by thej1nx · · Score: 1
      Oh, but they would! If there was any sane way of enforcing any such thing.


      With VOIP they actually do think such enforcement is possible. Not on individual basis... but for any large scale operator that isn't paying the license fee to act as a VOIP operator, to the government.

  5. FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by Reverend99 · · Score: 1

    This means it will cause it to be economically less reasonable to use foreign call centers to barage us with solicitations, and use them to off-shore jobs here. Best news I've heard all day.

    1. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by raju1kabir · · Score: 0, Troll

      I don't care about offshoring jobs and I don't have many problems with telemarketers, but I do find that almost all of my Indian call centre experiences are negative.

      Every time I get routed to one, I end up talking to someone who has no power to do anything, no access to information beyond what I could get from the web or from the automated voice response system, and the critical thinking skills of a muffin.

      Fortunately many companies seem to be backing off of their headling plunges into delegating crucial customer relations roles to unknown low-skilled workers on the other side of the planet. The reason they got in there was because there were a lot of English-speaking people who worked cheap, and now they're starting to realise those criteria alone weren't enough. There are other places (e.g., Philippines, Malaysia) that meet those requirements, and also feature governments that are open to foreign commerce and populations that are positively inclined toward the outside world.

      I think this VoIP move by the Indian government reflects the reasons why call centre offshoring there has been a failure (and after working there, I could have predicted this a long time ago). Some broad generalisations that I will stand behind:

      • India is really a pretty xenophobic place, generally hostile to most everything non-Indian.
      • India is deeply conservative and fearful of change.
      • The Indian educational system penalises innovation and creative thinking.
      • Indian politics are always parochial. If a proposal doesn't somehow poke a stick in the eye of those bastards in the next village/city/state/country, then it's not going to pass.

      This is the mentality that leads to shutting out VoIP services that could dramatically enhance the ability of Indian business to compete globally in new and exciting ways. Rather than eliminate economic friction by reducing taxes on services with a high productivity multiplier value, they would rather bureaucratise the sector into the ground and collect some short-term revenue from those damned foreigners.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    2. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by Kadin2048 · · Score: 1

      It makes a lot of offshoring more difficult, too. A lot of callcenter operations use VOIP in order to connect the center back to the U.S. Lack of VoIP could really change the balance of advantages away from BTO stuff in India. (Perhaps in favor of the Philippines or some other Asian countries with substantial English-speaking populations.) I can't imagine anyone choosing to use the POTS system if they didn't have to, particularly if the load is basically constant and predictable.

      Can't say I'm disappointed. If the Indians want to shoot themselves in the foot, they can have at it.

      --
      "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
    3. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Just 'cause:

      • America is really a pretty xenophobic place, generally hostile to most everything non-American
      • America is deeply conservative and fearful of change.
      • The American educational system penalises innovation and creative thinking.
      • American politics are always parochial. If a proposal doesn't somehow poke a stick in the eye of those bastards in the next village/city/state/country, then it's not going to pass.


      Wow, looks like we have a lot in common :-P
    4. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by raju1kabir · · Score: 2, Insightful
      • America is really a pretty xenophobic place, generally hostile to most everything non-American
      • America is deeply conservative and fearful of change.
      • The American educational system penalises innovation and creative thinking.
      • American politics are always parochial. If a proposal doesn't somehow poke a stick in the eye of those bastards in the next village/city/state/country, then it's not going to pass.

      Sorry, I don't live in the USA, so your clever riposte falls a little flat. But I've worked there too, and it's pretty clear that your points don't stand up.

      I cannot think of a country that rewards innovation and creative thinking more. Or one that's borrowed more liberally from the people, ideas, and other strengths of the rest of the world.

      While there can be an ugly us-vs-them aspect to politics, especially the speechmaking, it is a fact (amply demonstrated by the success of many policies) that genuinely productive solutions quite often win out.

      --
      "Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
    5. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by The+Cydonian · · Score: 2, Informative
      There are other places (e.g., Philippines, Malaysia) that meet those requirements

      Malaysia (and Singapore) regularly outsource call center jobs to India. Should know; just got off the phone with someone from the National Kidney Foundation.

      I think this VoIP move by the Indian government reflects the reasons why call centre offshoring there has been a failure

      And yet, salaries are rising rapidly back in Hyderabad; folks getting 50% or a 100% raise is not unheard of. A top job in an Accenture in Singapore will pay you S$3.5k pm at the max; a job at Microsoft's India Development Center will give you 14 lakhs per annum at the very least. (For the rupee-challenged, INR 140000 pa > SGD 3500 pm)

      The boom will stay for more time before it becomes bust is my prediction.

    6. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by dmohanty · · Score: 1

      Indians xenophobic! Your post is all about FUD and your posts being marked as insightful can happen only @ Slashdot. When it comes to India, Slashdot users are at their xenophobic best.

      Indians are not a cohesive lot. They are too busy earning for the next day/month to have the time for Xenophobia. Yes, Indian companies have been afraid of competition for some time. Some have reformed in the last five years and have awarded deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars to American companies. But even now, India ranks high in the number of anti dumping investigations it carries out. The Government owned BSNL which is the largest telecom company and some other big telecom/ISP players with considerable political clout seem to be behind this draconian proposal to make VOIP illegal.

      And finally you Slashdot editors; do show some signs that you have some brain by not ranking absolute trash as insightful just because Indians have stolen some American jobs.

    7. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      India is really a pretty xenophobic place, generally hostile to most everything non-Indian.
      India is deeply conservative and fearful of change.
      The Indian educational system penalises innovation and creative thinking.
      Indian politics are always parochial. If a proposal doesn't somehow poke a stick in the eye of those bastards in the next village/city/state/country, then it's not going to pass.

      Thanks for giving your impression of a country you probably never even stepped foot in. Next time maybe you want to learn more about something before judging it, otherwise you just look foolish.

      This is the mentality that leads to shutting out VoIP services that could dramatically enhance the ability of Indian business to compete globally in new and exciting ways.

      If you bothered to read the article, you would have known that only UNLICENSED VOIP is not allowed, India is regulating it just like a lot of other countries do. Again, here you show your inability to fully understand something and jumping to half-assed conclusions. This again makes you look quite foolish. I just can't believe you got modded up. I guess there are a lot of angry Slashdotters out there that have to resort to flipping burgers because their job was outsourced to India.

    8. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by FishWithAHammer · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And finally you Slashdot editors; do show some signs that you have some brain by not ranking absolute trash as insightful just because Indians have stolen some American jobs.

      "Have some brain" yourself - moderators, not editors, called it "insightful."

      --
      "You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
    9. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by daliman · · Score: 1

      While most of your post makes sense, it looses some for missing this part in the gp - "(and after working there, I could have predicted this a long time ago)". I'm visiting India next year, and am looking forward to it. I can see for myself then :)

    10. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by langelgjm · · Score: 1

      Some broad generalisations that I will stand behind:

              * India is really a pretty xenophobic place, generally hostile to most everything non-Indian.


      This is something I'll have to disagree with. Based on my experiences in India, I don't find it to be any more xenophobic than average (whatever average is). To me, it's just not notable.

              * India is deeply conservative and fearful of change.

      Conservative, maybe. Fearful of change, not so much. Seems to me that they are quite willing to adopt foreign business methods and technology in many sectors.

              * The Indian educational system penalises innovation and creative thinking.

      See the /. article from the other day. This is a problem that I don't think is limited to only India - I've been in a French university, and felt that while creativity wasn't necessarily penalized, it certainly wasn't encouraged.

      --
      "Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
    11. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by dvNull · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Some broad generalisations that I will stand behind:

              * India is really a pretty xenophobic place, generally hostile to most everything non-Indian.
              * India is deeply conservative and fearful of change.
              * The Indian educational system penalises innovation and creative thinking.
              * Indian politics are always parochial. If a proposal doesn't somehow poke a stick in the eye of those bastards in the next village/city/state/country, then it's not going to pass.



      Those are some pretty broad generalizations. I would wager you probably have never spoken to an Indian (outside of level 1 tech support), read or even seen anything about India on TV. Its almost like me saying "All Germans are Nazis, All French are cowards, All Brits have bad teeth, and All Americans are war mongers." India has a large number of foreigners who are visiting/live there and almost every place I have been to in India have been extremely friendly to foreigners. Calling India xenophobic basically tells me that you have absolutely no CLUE about India. You other points except for the education issue (which I will agree needs to be improved in helping students explore and find out rather than memorize), your other points are just as laughable.

      Hell I am of Indian origin, and I get frustrated by Indian tech support people. Then I realized that the only difference is that if it was not outsourced, I would get an American who has no power to do anything, who has no access to information beyond what I could get from the web and who has the critical thinking skills of a muffin. I go through this every time I have to call up any company regardless of whether the tech support is in India or the US. 99% of level tech support read from a script and thats it. Just politely ask for level 2 and you should get someone competent either from the US or whatever country they outsourced to. But then again you knew that. It is just more handy to blame Indian people. Even if the people were from Philippines or Malaysia, the responses would still be the same not due to the people but due to the tech support policies implemented by the companies. i.e Only so many minutes on the phone, read from a script etc.

    12. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by Billy+the+Impaler · · Score: 1
      ...Or one that's borrowed more liberally from the people, ideas, and other strengths of the rest of the world.
      I can: Japan.
    13. Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      For the rupee-challenged, INR 140000 pa > SGD 3500 pm)


      You mean yourself, right?

      140000INR in SGD

      So, INR 1400000 per annum (year) is better than SGD 3500 per month?

  6. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    There needs to be something like a math problem presented as a slightly distorted image whenever you try to post on Slashdot. That way only those with reasonable intelligence can post.

  7. "How to keep India poor?" Interfere with commun... by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ask yourself, self, how could this happen?

    Some rich and powerful government leaders were sitting around saying, "How do we keep India poor?" After many weeks of deliberation (They aren't very intelligent, of course.) they decided, "That's it! We'll interfere with cheap communication."

  8. Yet another sensationalistic headline... by 2br02b · · Score: 0, Redundant
    FTFA

    companies will also have to give an undertaking that they will not use the services of unlicensed foreign service providers This is about BPOs being told to stop using unlicensed VOIP service providers. VOIP is certainly not illegal in India.
  9. Only UNLICENSED VOIP to be made illegal in India by Somegeek · · Score: 5, Informative
    Another exciting headline that unfortunately has little to do with the truth.

    In the linked article it states that goal of the proposed legislation is that call centers are not going to be allowed to continue to use unlicensed VOIP. That is a huge difference from the Slashdot headline claiming that India is banning VOIP.

    India is quite happy to have them use domestic Indian VOIP providers thereby allowing the government to tax and regulate them. Much like we have in the US where the FCC regulates and taxes VOIP providers.

    --
    And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
  10. Re:Network neutrality by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This has absolutely nothing to do with network neutrality. This has to do with companies that are doing business with Indian companies not paying Indian taxes.

    That is what is making the Indian government pissed. They are not trying to restrict VOIP for the hell of it. They just want what any government wants- to regulate it and tax it, and if they can't, to make it illegal and then extract fines from it.

    --
    "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
  11. Satyagraha by elronxenu · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Time for some peaceful resistance, I think.

  12. You are, of course, shitting us. by PHAEDRU5 · · Score: 0, Troll

    If you think the average Indian on the street can't out-think the average Indian in Government, well, you just haven't met - wossname - Ghandi.

    --
    668: Neighbour of the Beast
  13. Sorry, I'm confused. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
    In the linked article it states that goal of the proposed legislation is that call centers are not going to be allowed to continue to use unlicensed VOIP. That is a huge difference from the Slashdot headline claiming that India is banning VOIP.


    Not that I've read TFA, but what's "licensed" VOIP?

    I don't think any VOIP I've used has ever been "licensed" by anyone.
    1. Re:Sorry, I'm confused. by Somegeek · · Score: 1
      Not that I've read TFA, but what's "licensed" VOIP?
      It would be an ISP that is licensed by some government body in India to provide VOIP services. From what I've heard it seems that India really likes to license and tax things. There was a story a few months ago where Indian ISPs were going to be taxed for generating "Light Energy". http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/10/173221 7
      --
      And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
  14. Re:Only UNLICENSED VOIP to be made illegal in Indi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    [...]like we have in the US where the FCC regulates and taxes VOIP providers.

    When did that start happening?

  15. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    No we wouldn't. Lonely, emotionally troubled males aged 16-45 aren't exactly rare.

  16. Misleading summary. VoIP is not illegal in India by Puchku · · Score: 1

    The article clearly points out that VoIP is not illegal in India. What is illegal is the BPO and KPO industry using unlicensed ISP's to carry their VoIP calls. The BPO and KPO industry racks up millions of minutes a month, and the goverment naturally wants them to comply with the law, so that they can be taxed. VoIP is not illegal, is it regulated, and taxed, and if a large company tries to avoid paying that tax, then well, they will be penalized. This DOES NOT affect home users at all. We can use Skype for as long as we like without paying any taxes or fees..

  17. Re:Network neutrality by Nataku564 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why not tax instant messaging then ... I mean, thats communicating information across the internet too.

    ZOMG! People exchanging ideas! This is bad, they may get smart and overthrow our corrupt government!

  18. Re:Network neutrality by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 1

    Because, according to the article (which is detail sparse), these companies are being paid for providing this service. The companies are not remitting the propper taxes, acquiring the propper licenses, etc, etc. How hard is this for some people to understand?

    --
    "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
  19. 'Internal' communications by GryMor · · Score: 1

    It wasn't clear from the article, but does this apply to a companies internal VOIP system that doesn't use ANY service provider? Ignoring call centers for the moment, what does this mean for VOIP connections that don't (and can't) touch POTS, don't cost anything, and are purely software?

    --
    Realities just a bunch of bits.
  20. Re:Only UNLICENSED VOIP to be made illegal in Indi by BillEGoat · · Score: 1

    VoIP in the US is not taxed. The only regulation extended to VoIP providers in the US is on interconnection to the PSTN, in which case the provider must also make Enhanced 9-1-1 service available. e.g. Skype-to-Skype is not regualted by the gov't.

  21. Question? by emmp · · Score: 1

    For anyone who knows or can speculate, how would this affect services like msn/yahoo/aim voice chat? Is this legislation mainly targeted at businesses or are consumers f*cked as well?

    To be honest, I really don't see msn/yahoo/etc. paying a tax to the Indian government in order to continue providing free basic chat/voice service.

    1. Re:Question? by abaweja · · Score: 2

      This doesn't affect internal voice links connecting indian and abroad offices. Also it doesn't affect Yahoo, Skype, MSN etc free service usage by companies or home users.
      Its like if a VOIP service provider sells a service to anyone in europe they have to pay VAT there, same is true for India but they are not doing it. In India lergest basic telephony and mobile phone providers and Internation Long distance backbone providers are providing VOIP services also. So it not like AT&T lobbying against VOIP services in india, they themselve are VOIP providers.

  22. Re:Network neutrality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This has nothing to do with the bill that didn't pass in the U.S., but it does have something to do with what the bill stood for, companies(in this case governments) shouldn't be able to charge more/less based on what is going through the wires. I think that is what he meant by "Network neutrality", or neutrality of networks.

  23. Re:Only UNLICENSED VOIP to be made illegal in Indi by Somegeek · · Score: 2, Insightful
    [...]like we have in the US where the FCC regulates and taxes VOIP providers.
    When did that start happening?
    In June. http://news.com.com/FCC+approves+new+Internet+phon e+taxes/2100-7352_3-6086437.html
    --
    And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
  24. Funny as hell by NineNine · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    Actually, when I read this, I couldn't help but laugh at all of the dumb companies that thought that they could save money by investing in what is still, essentially, a third world country. They should've realized that a few McDonald's and a rudimentary grasp of English doesn't make a country a first world country, (a good place to do business). I hope the backwater Indian government continues to tax "outsiders" in their own provincial way so that these stupid companies will learn their lessons. I think that India has a LONG way to go before it should be considered as any kind of technological powerhouse, and I think that this is a strong sign that that is true.

    1. Re:Funny as hell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh yes. How could we forget? McDonald's and grasp of English fooled all Indians into believing that they are a powerhouse!

      I pity those poor French people and Japanese :( They'll never be a powerhouse, what with their non-existent English skills.

      Oh wait. By that yardstick, India is a powerhouse. Let me look at the checklist

      1. McDonalds - YES
      2. English - Better than in France or Japan!

      I must say NineNine has evolved a whole new yardstick for economic and technological development. Kudos!

    2. Re:Funny as hell by The+Cydonian · · Score: 1
      I hope the backwater Indian government continues to tax "outsiders" in their own provincial way so that these stupid companies will learn their lessons.

      Let's just say that beyond a certain point, you can't ignore a billion people's worth of a market anymore. Especially if they're actively buying tech goods, and are looking out heavily yada yada.

    3. Re:Funny as hell by smallpaul · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually, when I read this, I couldn't help but laugh at all of the dumb companies that thought that they could save money by investing in [India]

      There is no question that companies are saving (and making) money by investing billions in India. A few VOIP taxes are not going to change that.

      [India] is still, essentially, a third world country.

      Nobody said otherwise. India is a developing economy. You have a very strange understanding of economics if you think that you cannot make money in a developing economy. Look at the bushfulls of money that have been made in the last 50 years in (e.g.) Korea, Saudi Arabia, Ireland, China, etc.

      They should've realized that a few McDonald's and a rudimentary grasp of English doesn't make a country a first world country, (a good place to do business).

      Rapidly growing economies are precisely where you go to do business.

      I hope the backwater Indian government continues to tax "outsiders" in their own provincial way so that these stupid companies will learn their lessons.

      America's backwater government also taxes "outsiders" in a provicial way. Haven't you heard about Bush's protectionism: http://www.progress.org/2003/trade12.htm

      I think that India has a LONG way to go before it should be considered as any kind of technological powerhouse, and I think that this is a strong sign that that is true.

      India's software industry alone is worth $20 billion. Tata infotech took 23 years to make its first billion and 23 months to make its second. Is that a powerhouse comparable to the American industry? Probably not. Does it matter? India's tech industry is strong, healthy and growing, no matter how much you might wish otherwise. Save your schadenfreude for someone who deserves it. You might want to read this to learn what's really going on in India: http://www.economist.com/business/PrinterFriendly. cfm?story_id=5300960

    4. Re:Funny as hell by ashwinds · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I agree that India does throw up the occassional barriers of trade when it sees some revenue opportunities subverted. the provincial attitude could well be our inheritance from our being a colony of a "first world" nation, the Brits. But I cant understand how a "first world country" can put of barriers of entry of people in the form of demeaning and draconian visa policies and pretend it encourages business. In the garb of protection of intellectual rights, patents have been awarded for even common knowledge and expects other nations to honour it. If all that means being "first world", thank you very much but we like our third world low life as it is. Every country creates barriers to protect and/or propel its own industry - being "third world", "first world", having McDonalds, knowledge of English has nothing to do with it. Titles like technological powerhouse, "first world" etc. are transitional and mean nothing over time - it would be nice, but its a rather small objective.

    5. Re:Funny as hell by SorryTomato · · Score: 1
      Look at the bushfulls of money that have been made...


      whats a bushfull? Money made per unit Halliburton per GWB administration? That's a lot of money dude!

    6. Re:Funny as hell by siufish · · Score: 1

      It is boring to see the same kind of comments coming up when India is mentioned on /.. Despite the fact that your string of arguments have no logical connection whatsoever, here are a few points for you to take home:

      - it is easier to generate higher ROA by investing in developing countries than in developed countries (partly because of the risk). It is no coincidence that you always hear about more and more investments going to China and India, but not so much about going to the US, because they're where the money is these days.

      - India is not a "third-world country". In fact, the Economist claims that their economy is showing signs of overheating.

      - the not-so-backwater US government is actually better known at taxing "outsiders" in their own "provincial" way. Protectionism is usually practiced in first-world countries, for reasons that I think should be obvious to most.

    7. Re:Funny as hell by ydrol · · Score: 1

      In other news, Slashdot User Id is not strictly proportional to IQ

    8. Re:Funny as hell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do realize that India is a nuclear power?

  25. Re:Network neutrality by Nataku564 · · Score: 1

    The article doesn't mention whether it was a paid service or not. I get the feeling that free skype users (the ones that don't bridge to telephone) will be out of luck just as much as the ones who pay to talk to landlines.

  26. voip in india by dotslasher_sri · · Score: 1

    As far as i know voip is legal in india until you touch the POTS network in India. For calls going outside of india using VOIP is legal because they are not using POTS to deliver the calls. Where as calls placed using VOIP to india have to pay tax to use POTS. Otherwise it is illegal.

    Anyone who knows more about this care to shed some light?

    1. Re:voip in india by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is why it costs so much to use Skypeout to call into India... other then a few African countries, skypeout calls into India are the highest on the skype network.

      I'm unsure of skype calls originating in India to the US are any higher then any other country.
      Of course there is a technical solution to this problem... one in which the Indian ISP
      (pay attention VSNL) cannot do anything about.

  27. Re:Network neutrality by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 2, Informative
    Then you were not reading the article. Quoth the article:

    The government move, when implemented, will fulfil a long-pending demand of internet service providers (ISPs). Internet Service Providers Association of India president Rajesh Chharia said: "It is essential that the government seeks this undertaking from call centres as these foreign service providers do not possess the requisite licences as mandated by the Government of India for Indian ISPs."

    Once this proposal is implemented, the government, in case of an emergency, would be able to trace details of all internet telephony minutes. This is because, when minutes are purchased from authorised players, the company is mandated to provide any data pertaining to the use of internet telephony like call detail record, if required by the security agencies.


    The two sections I bolded implied that money is indeed being paid, and further, this section does too:
    ...were also causing great revenue loss to the government as they did not pay the 12% service tax and 6% revenue share on internet telephony.

    How do you pay a tax on something that you're not paying for at all?

    --
    "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
  28. People people people by zappepcs · · Score: 1

    VoIP in some countries as well as MP3 audio are just the kind of thing that upsets the apple cart. The apple cart being the status quo tax base. When governments and businesses see that there previously standard revenue stream is being bypassed, they simply have to 'change the laws' to make sure their pork barrel is still fat with money.

    The point being: Each new invention based on the Internet will cause trouble somewhere if not everywhere. When a tax revenue is removed, they will move to create a new one or shut off the mechanism that stopped their old tax revenue. This, is blatant evidence that the government bodies as well as industry bodies, are simply not prepared to move with the changes or offer relevant services IAW current technology.

    Who do we have to blame for this? All of the government officials that were voted into office, or otherwise. They have BLATANTLY failed to pro-actively represent their constituents.

    Yes, I mean that. If they are behind the times by more than 3 months, they are living in and supporting a system that is fundamentally incapable of supporting your business and financial needs in the coming months. It is their ignorance that is now fscking up the finance sector and inhibiting business growth. Lets not even mention how backward governance is incapable of providing appropriate health care at reasonable costs....

    Damn, I'm not even liberal and I can see where technological bassackwardness is harming all in the society... sigh

    When will we learn? Perhaps we should force congressional electees to watch 500 episodes of star trek?

    signed: apathetic

    1. Re:People people people by emmp · · Score: 1

      What does any of this have to do with VOIP in India?

      These companies are offering a non-free VOIP service in India, and their government expects that service to be taxed. There's no conspiracy here.

      Move along.

  29. Slashdot mantra by joe+slacker · · Score: 1

    1. Post an article about India
    2. Watch as the bashing ensues.
    3......
    4. Profit!

    1. Re:Slashdot mantra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. Post an article about India
      2. Watch as the bashing ensues.
      3. Get H1B Visa
      4. Profit!

    2. Re:Slashdot mantra by antonyb · · Score: 2, Interesting
      How true. If I had mod points I'd mod you up.


      Disclaimer: I'm not Indian, but I do live in India. I've run software projects and managed dev teams on most continents, and the team I run here is

      1. as creative and able to problem-solve as any other, and
      2. far more hard-working than any other place I've worked
      Its also a wonderful country to live in; in fact after Australia & Sweden this is the country I've most enjoyed my time in.


      I really think that only by spending a few years away from your home country can you begin to gain some kind of perspective about how countries, people & world-views really compare.

      The rubbish I read on Slashdot about India and the Indians is the kind of thing I'd expect to see in the Daily Mail.

  30. Re:Network neutrality by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 1

    No, I realized what he meant the first time, and he (and you) are still wrong. This has nothing to do with neutrality of networks. It has to do with taxation and regulation of international businesses, plain and simple. The fact that it has to do with the internet is purely incidental.

    --
    "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
  31. Governance is also needed by modmani · · Score: 1

    It is not that voip has completely become illegal is what the article posts, In fact it means that we need the service providers to be a company binded by the national laws to fight terrorism in case needed, Ofcourse revenue sharing proposal from the government is very bad.

  32. Re:Network neutrality by Kopl · · Score: 1

    OK, this is something that they charge for, your right.

    --
    Disagree with me? Tell me why, but follow these rules.
  33. Re:Only UNLICENSED VOIP to be made illegal in Indi by Somegeek · · Score: 2, Insightful
    VoIP in the US is not taxed.
    We are not yet actively paying the tax, but the FCC regulations have been in place since June '06 and the day is approaching. Unless Congress does something to block it. From what I have read I agree that the current regulations do not affect P2P VoIP like Skype to Skype.
    --
    And as you tread the halls of sanity, You feel so glad to be, Unable to go beyond. I have a message, From another time..
  34. "India is really a pretty xenophobic place..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    "...generally hostile to most everything non-Indian."

    Which is of course why most Indians would gnaw their own arms off for the chance to live just about anywhere but India.

    No?

    1. Re:"India is really a pretty xenophobic place..." by b.burl · · Score: 1

      & why its the ultimate dream of so many to work for microsoft. no joke.

  35. Re:troll?!??!? by jack_csk · · Score: 1

    Excuse me, but then what was the relationship between Islam and India, besides some Indians are Muslim?

    I mean, last time I check, they were not even consider an Islamic country.

  36. No freaking way... by (H)elix1 · · Score: 1

    As someone from the US who gets sent on trips to help partners in India, this would be insane. Depending on the network, calls ranged from $7-11 USD a minute, setting a company record when we got the bill since the blackberry seemed to hop to a new network every other call. I'll use VOIP via Google talk to chat with my family - without that, I'll be damned if they get me on site again. Penny wise, pound foolish. It was bad enough to pay $20 USD a day at the hotels for net access to do VOIP....

    1. Re:No freaking way... by ravimar · · Score: 1

      Calls to US from India are Rs. 7 to Rs. 11 per minute for landlines! (Not USD 7-11) Interesting how the parent got such inflated bills. If he was using his mobile here on roaming, the inflated charges are due to his (US) service provider. And again, as many many people have pointed out already, the article is about banning unlicensed VOIP by companies - it does not say anything about individuals using VOIP apps.

    2. Re:No freaking way... by (H)elix1 · · Score: 1

      Nope - it was closer to 300-500rs a minute. Granted, that was on a mobile phone and not a land line, but the phone bill was high enough I got to grovel to our CFO - two months was more than what I paid for a down payment on my house. Part of the problem was I had a US SIM chip and not a local SIM. Things were much better when I returned with an unlocked mobile.

      (the base rate for tmobile is 1.60 USD, ~3 USD/minute roaming. Things got scary, however, if you wandered off the 'partner' network and the blackberry was set for automatic rather than manual network selection. In New Delhi, it would change networks on every call...)

    3. Re:No freaking way... by ravimar · · Score: 1

      Which is exactly what I said - the inflated rates are on US mobile phones on roaming. Use an Indian landline or a SIM card from an Indian cell-phone company - costs only Rs 100, you know - and you can make calls that much cheaper. There are even schemes to buy a (low end) mobile phone with a SIM card for only Rs 2000 (less than USD 50!)

  37. in other news by technicalandsocial · · Score: 1

    Dell just got their new helpdesk telephone bill and have decided outsourcing was not such a great idea.

  38. Oblig by Swimport · · Score: 4, Funny

    If VOIP is illegal, only criminals will have VOIP.

    1. Re:Oblig by Thomas+Shaddack · · Score: 1
      ...and it may be quite attractive to become a criminal. With Asterisk, it is not that difficult to build a VoIP/PSTN gateway; there are even solutions for gatewaying Asterisk to Skype. Such solution can be made cheaply, and even if its capacity is limited to one or at most few PSTN lines, it still may be enough for a small group of friends or a family with friends or family members in foreign countries.

      A law banning unrestricted interoperability between communication systems deserves being ignored and its enforceability hindered by all available means.

  39. VOIP in india by chrisranjana.com · · Score: 1, Interesting
    The companies will also have to give an undertaking that they will not use the services of unlicensed foreign service providers such as Net2Phone, Vonage, Dialpad, Impetus, Novanet, Euros, Skype and Yahoo.
    What is it that prevents the above companies becoming licensed ? and hereby bringing the total license fee payable to the Indian govt and finally bringing joy to all !
    --
    Chris ,
    Php Programmers.
  40. Stigma of acquiring wealth by louzer · · Score: 0

    The average Indian civil servant still sees himself primarily as a regulator and not as a facilitator. He has not yet accepted that it is not a sin to make profits and become rich. The average Indian bureaucrat has little trust in India's business community. They view Indian businessmen as money grabbing opportunists who do not have the welfare of the country at heart; and all the more so if they are foreign businessmen. Thus VOIP is bad and must be banned according to the Indian government because it helps the "evil" businessmen make money.

    --
    Heroes die once, cowards live longer.
    1. Re:Stigma of acquiring wealth by b.burl · · Score: 1

      The average know it all /. poster sees himself as possessing ultimate knowlege of what's in other minds and has a funhouse mirror view of the world. Thus everything government does is bad and everything business does is good.

    2. Re:Stigma of acquiring wealth by louzer · · Score: 0

      Actually those are not my words. Except the last sentence about VOIP, everything else was plagiarized from a speech by minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew at the 37th Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Lecture on Monday, 21 November 2005, New Delhi. BTW, The average know it all /. poster likes to believe that everything microsoft does is evil which contradicts the claim that /. posters think that everything business does is good.

      --
      Heroes die once, cowards live longer.
    3. Re:Stigma of acquiring wealth by castle · · Score: 1

      Score!!!

      This is the most erudite Zinger I've seen on /. in a long time.

      Way to go.

  41. The Double-Edged Sword by dasunst3r · · Score: 1

    While it is good for those who do not like off-shoring and those money-grubbing you-know-whats the telecom companies are, it is bad because it will drive prices here up because of the increased costs of service and could cause a loss in jobs. Those ungrateful twots are going to get it soon... I see pink slips being flown in by helicopter.

  42. In a way, it makes sense.... by ravee · · Score: 1

    The VoIP could very well be the death of the telecommunication industry in India. Consider this fact - a call to the US can be made just for Rs 5 a minute using VoIP compared to Rs 20 a minute using land line or even more using mobile phone. And over the years, the quality of voice in VoIP has significantly improved.

    The booming telecommunication industry in India is going through a flux and will not be able to bear this setback of allowing VoIP calls which will cut into their margins unless of course they also provide their customers VoIP handsets. More over, the BPOs can very well afford to use the land line phones to communicate with their contacts abroad.

    --
    Linux Help
    for all things on Linux
    1. Re:In a way, it makes sense.... by h4ck7h3p14n37 · · Score: 1

      The VoIP could very well be the death of the telecommunication industry in India.

      Right. Because it's not like those VOIP streams flow through the telecommunication companies' networks.

      Consider this fact - a call to the US can be made just for Rs 5 a minute using VoIP compared to Rs 20 a minute using land line or even more using mobile phone.

      Consider this fact - VOIP calls can be carried over an IP network without ever touching a plain old telephone system (POTS) line. What that means is that if you have an always-on Internet connection, your calls do not incur a per minute charge; the use is covered by your monthly service fee.

      The reason you pay a per minute charge to VOIP companies like Skype or Vonage is so that you can use their proxy/bridge service. This allows somone with an IP phone to call someone on POTS lines and vice versa. If you're calling someone with an IP phone from your own IP phone (like the Cisco 7960 sitting on my desk, or a software based phone) then you don't need to use a VOIP service provider, you just need the other party's URL, eg. sip://somebody@ip_phone/. Another benefit of calling from IP phone to IP phone is that you can use the standard techniques for routing, securing, encrypting and capturing traffic.

  43. Will This Stop DISH Cold Calls? by SRA8 · · Score: 1

    I get a single cold call a day, every single damn day, from DISH network resellers looking to sell me sattellite service. They call every single day for the past 4 months despite repeated requests to get off their list and despite me being on the Do Not Call List. Why? Because being in India, they simply do not care about the US Do Not Call List. Perhaps more expensive VoIP will make such telemarketing calls less prevalent? YES!

  44. Also, by The+Cydonian · · Score: 3, Insightful
    India is really a pretty xenophobic place, generally hostile to most everything non-Indian.

    The thing that really struck me the most in "new" India, all those malls and food courts and stuff, is how prevalent Chinese food is, among other things. Granted, Indian Chinese isn't quite Chinese as I know :-D, but I've travelled to Hong Kong and throughout most parts of South East Asia, and I don't think I've seen the reverse happening.

    India's opening up faster than most ex-pat Indians realize.

    India is deeply conservative and fearful of change.

    We've got the world's largest twenty-something population. Half the country is my age, 24.

    The Indian educational system penalises innovation and creative thinking.

    Which of the twenty-seven or so educational systems are you talking about? If it is the CBSE or the ICSE, then you'd be hardpressed to explain why they follow it in some schools here in Singapore, or in West Asia and southern Africa, in Tanzania, Kenya and, I understand, South Africa. The educational system per se isnt soul-ripping, but the competition is; never, however, doubt the intent of some of the better designed systems.

    Indian politics are always parochial. If a proposal doesn't somehow poke a stick in the eye of those bastards in the next village/city/state/country, then it's not going to pass.

    :-)

    I take it that you haven't worked with these lobbyists? The problem with Indian politics is that it's a huge superset of local politics glued together somehow under the Indian tricolour; the difficulty is in having a larger picture, or in convincing folks to look beyond their backyards. I doubt anybody is malicious though, in their intent; there is a lot of good work being done, albeit slowly. I think we're about to hit the corner in a year or so when folks start demanding action at a national level as well.

    Tough work, but there are reasons to be optimistic. All is not lost.

    1. Re:Also, by Ham_belony · · Score: 0

      How predictable, they really have a good thing going with China then.

    2. Re:Also, by The+Cydonian · · Score: 1
      How predictable, they really have a good thing going with China then.

      India has a fair amount of ethnic Chinese in its population. There's an entire Chinatown in Calcutta. Delhi University has had one of the best Chinese language departments internationally for many years; anecdotally, I can tell you of at least one English-to-Chinese translation job that was outsourced to India.

  45. yawn, In other news... by SorryTomato · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    http://www.deccan.com/Business/Business.asp#IPphon esby2007:Cisco/

    IP phones by 2007: Cisco

    New Delhi, Dec. 6: Cisco Systems said on Wednesday that it plans to set up a pilot facility in Chennai by April 2007, to manufacture internet protocol phones. Cisco is planning to triple its head count in India from the present 2,000 to 6,000 in the next three years. Cisco also announced the next stage of its globalisation strategy with the selection of India as the site for its globalisation centre. It has appointed Mr Wim Elfrink as its chief globalisation officer, who will relocate to Bangalore in January.

    Cisco expects that India will contribute 5 per cent of Ciscos revenue in the next two to three years and will provide half of the future growth in its staff numbers, said chairman and CEO Cisco systems, John Chambers, after meeting Union IT and communications minister Dayanidhi Maran. In line with the companys outsourced manufacturing model, Cisco has selected one of its global partners, Foxconn, to work on the facility, said Mr Chambers.

    Mr Chambers added that Cisco chose India as its globalisation vision, because India has a highly skilled workforce, supportive government and world class partners that already have global capabilities. Cisco would invest $100 million to expand its technical services out of India. In the last year Cisco invested $5 million in Indiagames and Bharti Telesoft and expects to invest another $25 million to $30 million in the next few months in Indian companies involved in broadband content and digital media.

    These investments are part of the $1.1 billion that the company had committed in November 2005. Ciscos growing investments across all its operation areas in India is a vindication of the increasingly self sustaining ecosystem that the country provides for business to thrive and compete in a globalised economy, said Mr Chambers.

  46. Re: Easy Cowboy ;) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "technological bassackwardness", "pork barrel", "apple carts"

    Here you go buddy ;)

  47. Ah, the irony. by metaverse · · Score: 1

    "Foreign service providers could be a "serious security threat as they did not come under any Indian regulator and policy framework"

    I guess it is time for all outsourcing customers (insert country here) to remove the outsourcing deals to India since they are a "foreign service provider" as well and the Indian provider does not fall under (insert country here) regulator and policy framework ?

    Pot, why is kettle black eh ?

  48. Im sorry I think this story is a joke by darrenadelaide · · Score: 1

    Im sure this is a fake.

    Most of their (if not all of) call centres rely on voip to communicate with "customers", without voip there will be no call centres.

    I cant see the indian government killing their cash cow. About as likely as the US or China banning all Pollution. It aint going to happen.

    Just my 2c worth.

    Darren

  49. Come on .. Misleading Title! by sunsrin · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is only for BPOs who might be using internet telephony without paying taxes to the Govt. FYI - Yahoo has been given the license to offer Internet telephony in India. Read here . They will be partnering with VSNL to route their calls.

  50. The world will be a worse place by TheLink · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Gather a mob, shoot the bureaucrats between the eyes" "The world would be a better place if this happened more frequently."

    Really? It already happens a bit too frequently, and the world is a worse place for it.

    Typically it's the mob leaders who don't mind killing people who end up in power (because the "other options" end up dead - doh). And that's how people like Mao, Saddam Hussein, the leaders of Syria, Sudan, etc rise to the top - their opponents either get killed, jailed, or exiled. And that is why Karl Marx's Communism dreams tend to end up as nightmares - because he suggested violence as a means to communism.

    If you keep doing that once in a while if you get lucky you get a benevolent dictator or a dictator who somehow thinks that democractic elections are a good idea.

    But what are the odds? If you end up in such a scenario it may be better to just wait (leave or stay) and hope that the dictator picks successors who are less violent (which has a higher chance of happening, since the dictator will want to eliminate threats - e.g. others like him). Then when the time is right you make a move for mass civil disobedience - NOT violence and hope the soldiers will disobey as well.

    --
  51. sigh by Nasarius · · Score: 1
    No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
    Sorry. The government CANNOT compel you to give any kind of evidence that would implicate yourself. If your encrypted data contains evidence against you, forcing you to turn over your encryption keys is a violation of your Fifth Amendment rights.
    --
    LOAD "SIG",8,1
  52. example by Nasarius · · Score: 1

    Let's say we have Person A, Person B, and Person C. They have all committed a murder, hidden the body, and the police have them in custody, but without enough evidence to prove the case. Person A has that information only in his head. Person B wrote it down and hid it somewhere. Person C put it in his computer in an encrypted file.

    Are you now seriously suggesting that the authorities are allowed to force Person C to turn over evidence, but not A or B?

    --
    LOAD "SIG",8,1
    1. Re:example by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 1

      The difference, as I have explained before, is that they have the evidence of person C. Your right to self-incrimination only extends to not giving the police evidence against yourself.

      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
  53. VoIP Ban - easy to avoid. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Posting as AC for the 1st time ever as I shouldnt really be posting this......

    Dubai also has this law.

    One day they blocked all VoIP traffic.

    Spent £300 on a Cisco PIX, had the guy at the other end configure his Cisco router to set up a VPN between the Cisco boxes.

    VoIP restored, but running in an encrypted tunnel.

    2mbps of VoIP traffic vanishes just over 2mbps of traffic appears in a VPN tunnel - but unable to be identified as VoIP

  54. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  55. The truth by 400049 · · Score: 1

    It's nothing like that. The government of India is trying to control the voip calls from these providers to let indian VOIP industry grow, which is still very much in its infancy. Providers like Sify et al provide VOIP service in India and hence this conclusion that Indian Government is going to ban VOIP on the whole is not true. Infact this directive is only for BPO/KPOs and individuals can still buy skype talk time to call Europe, US and elsewhere. BPO/KPOs having huge margins can easily channel some money to Indian providers so that some healthy VOIP providers could grow there which are not able to do so due to presence of large(which are mostly global firms) and mature businesses already present. There is also an angle of illegal telephone exchanges in India using whihc big firms call clients in US and elsewhere and thus not only hurt revenue collections of the government but also the highly competitve and cut throat market of telecommunication in India. Also prevailing secuirty conditions does not allow Indian Government to be lax about calls made from/to pakistan. Finally those who are raising so much hue and cry over a matter which prima facia seems of protecting domestic industry before it is ready for global competition and NOT of rights, USA government or for that matter governments all over the world have done this kind of domestic industry protection and are still doing it. Let me inform you that US government protects its agriculture industry in a BIG way. Let USA government stop all concessions to Agriculture sector and lower entry taxes and you will soon realize that not only your software runs on Indian brain but your brain is actually made up of Indian wheat!

    1. Re:The truth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The government of India is trying to control the voip calls from these providers to let indian VOIP industry grow, which is still very much in its infancy.

      I'm trying to read that again to see if it makes sense. Nope it doesn't. The government just wants to collect more taxes and only allow those that pay it kickbacks to have the right to provide a service. Why does the VoIP industry need this help? It seems to be doing very well by itself.

    2. Re:The truth by 400049 · · Score: 1

      >>I'm trying to read that again to see if it makes sense. Nope it doesn't. Indian VOIP industry is very small with very few players and global players like Skype are very mature and provide services at lower rates. This hurts the Indian industry. >>The government just wants to collect more taxes I don't see much red in that, leave alone it being illegal or unethical >>Why does the VoIP industry need this help? It seems to be doing very well by itself. Global players don't Indian players do Duffer

  56. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by Calydor · · Score: 1

    What, you want to kill all posts on Slashdot now?

    --
    -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
  57. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by b.burl · · Score: 1

    Lonely, emotionally troubled males aged 16-45 [with way too much access to broadband porn] aren't exactly rare.

  58. Voice over Frame Relay by dindi · · Score: 3, Interesting

    When they make Voice Over IP illegal, you can switch to Voice over Frame Relay.

    I in fact know a call center that specifically has the technology, to avoid the proposed Voice over IP law in Costa Rica. Usually law makers are shortsighted with technology, so there is always a way around. :)

    1. Re:Voice over Frame Relay by slashnik · · Score: 1

      Can you then do frame relay over IP

    2. Re:Voice over Frame Relay by dindi · · Score: 1

      U can do ip over frame relay.

      Technically you can encapsulate anything and tunnel it thru ip :) so i guess, why not, but then at the end you are using voice over frame relay over ip, so it's like.. hmm :) technically the same as just VOIP :)

  59. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    As well as all those who recognize that it is a ghostbusters quote.

  60. It's bad because.. by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    Maybe India banned it because they can't stand that damn echo you hear when you talk to somebody.

    The place I work is all VOIP and I try to avoid the phones if I can.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re:It's bad because.. by Bryansix · · Score: 1

      Is it hosted VOIP? If it is then does your call go out over the Internet or do you have a private closed loop T-1 to the hosting company?

  61. RTFA, Dumbasses by EmagGeek · · Score: 1

    It's not making VOIP illegal at all. It is just making VOIP from foreign providers illegal. This is more bullshit Indian nationalism. India is a bunch of hypocrites.

    1. Re:RTFA, Dumbasses by DaMattster · · Score: 1

      Yup, they have no problem mass exporting cheap, poorly made shit and when we want to sell them something they attach a 30% duty. Wow, what a level playing field.

  62. Taxing children for work done in scheel. by zotz · · Score: 1

    I know, let's tax children for the work they do in school! They are doing work and accumulating value so we should tax it. Plus to do even better. We can tax those children making higher grades at a higher rate as the work they are doing is obviously and certifiably more valuable. Right??? ~;-)

    all the best,

    drew

    --
    FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
  63. Re:troll?!??!? by lixee · · Score: 1
    I mean, last time I check, they were not even consider an Islamic country.
    Last time I checked, most Americans wouldn't locate India on a map. I don't honestly expect them to tell an Arab from a Farsi, or a Sikh from a Pakistani.
    --
    Res publica non dominetur
  64. Re:In classic Slashdot form...SYRIA!! by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

    Have you taken a good look at what the Syrian government has blocked lately. All forms of mass communication has been blocked, I had to develop something for a friend as he had his yahoo & msn & icq all blocked, so as far as VoIP, i believe it to be the same. They filter everything, and are extremely concious about what their public is up to. If you don't believe me, try asking someone who has lived there and tried to use msn messanger

  65. Bloody nonsense... by bayankaran · · Score: 1

    You have no idea about India. And if you are an Indian you are seriously misinformed.

    India is really a pretty xenophobic place, generally hostile to most everything non-Indian.

    India is a country with 5000 plus year old civilization which produced 3 of the major religions in this world. India has the plurality your narrow mind is unable to grasp. There are xenophobic Indians, just like there are xenophobic Russians, Australians, Americans (or name your ethnic group).

    India is deeply conservative and fearful of change.

    You absolutely have no idea about India. Have you heard of Kamasutra? I can understand if a person is conservative. But how can you say a country is conservative? What barometers do you use? Look more than 100 years into the history to put everything in context.

    The Indian educational system penalises innovation and creative thinking.

    The above comment does not warrant my time. Any educational system has its own pluses and minuses - there are excellent teachers (look around an American campus, some of the best teachers would be Indian) and there are total morons who became teachers for whatever reason - just like any other society.

    Indian politics are always parochial. If a proposal doesn't somehow poke a stick in the eye of those bastards in the next village/city/state/country, then it's not going to pass.

    Parochial as opposed to what! A president who attacks a country with false evidence. With all the problems, Indian political system will not do such horrendous mistakes. I have always felt that the mistakes made by many American governments with great cost of non-Americans would not have happened if US had a multi-party system like in India.

    There is a saying - India is unity in diversity. And as a beginning go and read 'The Argumentative Indian' by Amartya Sen. Some of your misconceptions about India and Indians will be taken care of.

    --
    Tat Tvam Asi
  66. VoIP is more than Skype, Yahoo Voice, etc... by my1wong · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sigh....

    You think the BPO call centers in India are answering your De*l support calls using Skype or Yahoo? Oh, please....

    Most large call centers are using IP PBX "architecture". By IP WAN and QoS, the call center in India and the call center in US become one big "virtual" call center under one virtual IP PBX. Yes, there is voice traffic flowing between US and India, but that's not Skype or Yahoo voice or MSN.

    These IP PBX brands include Avaya, Cisco, Nortel, and many others. I bet these are "licensed" VoIP brands in India.

    -- Tin

  67. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Half the people are below median not average.

  68. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by MMC+Monster · · Score: 1

    Yeah. I could just imagine having to solve quadratic equations or such. It would certainly be an interesting study to see what happens the the number and quality of posts.

    --
    Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
  69. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    There needs to not be anonymous posting on slashdot. That way only those worth hearing from can post.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  70. Even better- tax collectors? by way2trivial · · Score: 1
    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  71. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes indeed. The ability to memorize formulas and factor polynomials is a really good indication of intelligence.

    Yeah, I realize it was a joke, but twits like you annoy me. "What's the best way to tell if someone is intelligent? Math!" Math geeks never seem to understand that math is of practical use to a very small few, of personal interest to a few others, and worthless for everyone else.

    You'll never see me as an English major demanding that someone should compose a sonnet or diagram a sentence as proof of intelligence. Twit.

  72. The Onion Says It Best by SydShamino · · Score: 1

    "Gather a mob, shoot the bureaucrats between the eyes" "The world would be a better place if this happened more frequently."

    http://www.theonion.com/content/node/56093

    --
    It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  73. World's largest democracy is banning VOIP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey, it's their country, so what do I care... but I kind of find it all sorts of ironical that the world's largest democracy is banning VOIP.

    Perhaps, despite popular belief, democracy != freedom for all.

  74. VoIP to PSTN not VoIP or Internet Communications by marsaro · · Score: 1

    calling VoIP to PSTN "VoIP" is a little incorrect. Once Internet Communications is fully understood and used, everything will change for telcoms and their business models, and that makes these government folks freak out because they get bribes from the monopolies like power, telecommunications etc sectors.

    What web sites and Email did to the planet over the last 10 years, the next "protocols" or usage of the internet and DNS, so called VoIP, presence, IM, video (which all use DNS and open standards) are going to change the planet 10x more. Why? because these are "disruptive" services, replacing existing technologies. One could argue Email replaced Faxes, and some phone usage, and website replaced the yellow pages, but the order of magnitude of what VoIP, Presence, IM, is going to do to established industries like telcom is magnificent in comparison and it has politicians running for cover and creating laws and regulations, like 911 to slow or stop it.

    Fact is you can download the free CommuniGate Pro, which is widely used in India, and set that up in every house, even with a modem, and build an entire communications network around the world that is standards based, and people in the government and telcoms know this, it is very scary to them.

  75. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by deadphoenix · · Score: 1
    Half the people are below median not average.

    Median is AN average, as are mean and mode. The grandparent post is correct.

  76. Re:"How to keep India poor?" - Legal Plunder by DanMorin · · Score: 1

    Competition is what drives prices down, and makes prices affordable to the average man. Large corporations are not efficient and have difficulties competing with smaller ISPs. The only way to slow down competition is by erecting legal barriers to other businesses in their industry. This is done by law and regulation.

    I don't think the idea is to keep India poor, but those large corporations (which have friends in the government) are using the law as a tool to fight against their competitors. The deal has to be win-win, so they offer some "revenue sharing" with the politicians in return of the favour. Of course, the citizen is the looser as he/she has to pay more, thus keeping them poor.

    Perhaps using the term Legal Plunder is best to describe the situation. A good reading about this is "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat written in 1849. You can also find this masterpiece in MP3 format.

  77. bizness idea by SaberTaylor · · Score: 1

    1.) Throw out your calling cards if you have any left.
    2.) Setup up a VOIP forwarding system on your broadband computer.
    3.) Force users of the free long distance to listen to local advertisements first.
    4.) Profit.

    --
    If you need text styles to communicate then you don't have a message.
  78. Perhaps this is a good thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hah! Perhaps this is going to make it so expensive for these outsourcing companies that they might just give up the idea of setting up shop in India... making outsourcing not a viable option anymore.

    I've been in India, and their so called ban on VIOP is a real farce anyway... I've just figured
    out how to "dig a tunnel" through my US provider by looking into the Skype application for the IP and port they are using for one of their servers. Now I can just use SSH tunnel through my box, and patch Skype to look in "localHost" and appropriate port, which then maps through the tunnel and makes it look like I'm skyping from my box, rather then where I really am...

    The stupid VSNL (India's monopolistic ISP), can suck my behind where the suin don't shine as I totally refuse to pay the $3.50/min phone charges when calling from India.

    Even back then, I was using VIOP by just changing the port to port 80. India's VSNL cannot block that port without disabling web access...

    With my SSH tunnel, which is encrypted, I highly doubt of they will even know what I'm doing.

    It's fairly easy to setup an SSH tunnel through another UNIX box, but pretty hard to reverse engineer Skype's application, but I did find the place where the application specifies the
    first level skype node... I just replaced that with "localhost" (Which breaks skype), so I
    have two versions. One I can use with the "tunnel" and the other I use normally.

    I just SSH into my box after editing a .ssh/config file to make the tunnel when I log in.

    To get the host name and port skype uses, the best way is to use TCPDump to locate the IP/Port
    of the Top Skype node, then search through the skype package to locate that string.

    Sinple, really... and it also comes in handy if you are abroad and want to call into the USA
    because now Skype thinks I'm calling FROM a US IP address - so the PSTN connection is free.

    I would like to spread this knowledge, but (sigh) I cannot figure out how without revealing my identity, which I will NEVER reveal through Slashdot...

  79. Re:In classic Slashdot form...SYRIA!! by Bryansix · · Score: 1

    This is a great thing to know in the argument that the Government in Syria is evil. They oppress their own people and spew all kinds of propaganda that only serves to destabilize the region. They meddle in Lebanon and are probably behind a bunch of assassinations in that country. Syria's citizens need to demand change. Of course any protest would likely be squelched.

  80. Re:Network neutrality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Funny how no one mentioned the surveillance/security angle that the article touched on. All of those VOIP companies that the Indian government considers to be regulated agreed to surrender details about any calls made on their network upon request.

    Though it is possible that the profit of the government and growth of the industry is the main reason and the snooping thing is just icing on the cake.

  81. Offtopic but true by wsanders · · Score: 1

    This is a new trend specifically designed to piss me off. Seems a tad racist to blame it on Indians since everybody does this now:

    Them: "Hello my name is Rodney and howmayIprovideyouwiththeexcellentservicetodaywhich nodoubtwhohavecometoexpectfrommakingasmartpurchase decisiontobuyfromthegarbageshitesoftwarecomapnyand Ihopeyouarehavinganexcellentday."

    Me: "ARRRRRGGH!"

    Them: "AsIunderstandityousaidARRRRRGGHwhichisnotlistedon yourcontactasasupportedgarbageshitewaresoftwarerod uctyouhavepurchasedbutnecessarilyintheinterestofpr ovidingtheupmostexcelletcustoerservicetowhicyouare ntitemayIaskyoutoexplainwhetherARRRRRGGHisimpactin gyouroperationsseverelyheavilyonlymarginallyornota tall?"

    --
    Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
  82. Re:only donkey dongs use VOIP! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Half the people are below median not average".

    "Median is AN average, as are mean and mode. The grandparent post is correct."

    10 10 10 10 5

    Mean is 9.

    Half are below 9...?

  83. Re:SSL/TLS by Thomas+Shaddack · · Score: 1
    ...to implement a system where providing the key is impossible.

    From a log of TLS handshake: DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA

    OpenSSL already supports that. Just generate the suitable DH prime and add it to your .pem file. (Plus some optional configuration dependent on the software used.)

    Make it a default setting in well-established software distros, and sit back and watch its use proliferate.

  84. Yahoo Messenger for India doesn't support VoIP by amalakar · · Score: 1

    VoIP was banned for quite a long time, only now govt seems to be taking some action! This article[1] says how VoIP is only permissible within a firm's internal corporate network. Because of this Yahoo Messenger for India[2] comes without VoIP support. Although it seems Yahoo is now acquiring license[3] to offer IP Telephony in India.

    1.http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NEW/ is_2001_Sept_4/ai_77821205
    2.http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/
    3.http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/11/06/HNyaho otelephonyindia_1.html?VOIP

  85. Its all about tariff. by ananthap · · Score: 1

    Its just a matter of time before some call centre or user ofiicially terminated the skype and other connections to a local provider and pays a flat rate to the local i s provider. Then it will become legal and we can say "the law was an ass ..". End