Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

VoIP Legal Status Worldwide?

Posted by samzenpus on from the free-for-all dept.

Cigarra writes "There was much public debate going on during the last several months here in Paraguay, regarding the 'liberation of Internet,' that is, the lifting of the restriction on ISPs to connect directly to international carriers. Up until this week, they were forced to hire wholesale service from the State run telco, Copaco. During the last month, when the new regulation was almost ready, the real reason supporting the monopoly made it to the headlines: Copaco would fight for the monopoly, fearing VoIP based telephony. Finally, the regulator Conatel resolved today to end the monopoly, but a ruling on VoIP legal status was postponed for 'further study.' I guess this kind of 'problem' arose almost everywhere else in the world, so I ask the international slashdotters crowd: what is VoIP's legal status in your country / state / region? How well did incumbent telcos adapt to it, and overall, just how disruptive was this technology to established operators?"

3 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Legal vs Allowed by Renraku · · Score: 4, Insightful

    VoIP is legal here in the United States.

    But I don't know how much longer it'll be allowed to live by the ISPs.

    We're kind of on a roller coaster ride debate as to whether or not ISPs should be able to decide what data goes over their lines. They want to be able to charge more for certain types of data (and you can bet your ass that data that competes with another wing of their business will be pretty damn expensive).

    When Bush was in office, I wouldn't have even blinked in surprise if I were told suddenly the ISPs decided that all YouTube traffic is now set to 14.4k speeds unless you pay more for it, but now that Obama's in office, its actually a debate rather than a eventuality.

    --
    Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
    1. Re:Legal vs Allowed by bartwol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I never served...a fact of which I am not proud.

      I fully agree with your point, brief and unexplained though it may be.

      The parent's sweeping [mis]characterization of military personnel reflects a kind of bigotry that is common and, in many circles, acceptable here in the U.S. (and elsewhere). And yet, his ugly slur is no more correct than one he might make about African Americans or any other broadly defined population. Alas, such broad sweeping bigotry lives in the hearts of most people, and is only mitigated by their learned sensitivity ("forgiveness") to particular sub-classes.

      Anyway, thanks for saying it the way I felt about it.

  2. Re:VoIP in Latin America by johannesg · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm utterly amazed that in some countries you can apparently go to jail for using a certain type of telephone...