[governance] ISPs, PTA lock horns over illegal VoIP

[Meryem Marzouki]

Le 19 juin 09 à 16:23, William Drake a écrit :

> Milton L Mueller wrote:
>> Why does your government make VoIP illegal to begin with? VoIP has  
>> the ability to save internet and telecom users hundreds of dollars  
>> a year. It is nothing more than a software application. I suppose  
>> the politicians who support these bans are the same ones asking  
>> for international development funds to combat the digital divide...
>>
> You know the reason. Many governments in the developing or  
> transitional countries have at various points imposed restrictions  
> on the grounds that it bleeds revenue from the dominant incumbent  
> carriers' PSTNs and undermines their control. I don't have current  
> information at hand (would appreciate pointers from anyone who  
> does) but back in 2001, when the ITU did a World Telecom Policy  
> Forum on IP telephony, staff did a SG report that included the  
> tables below (cut and paste from a Word doc, apologies if they get  
> garbled). I seem to remember hearing higher numbers back then, like  
> that > 50 countries had significant or total prohibitions, but my  
> memory is fuzzy, don't know about now.



There could be other reasons for VoIP prohibition, which are related  
to control. Some proprietary VoIP protocols (e.g. skype) make it hard  
to wiretap phone conversation (because of encryption). On the other  
hand, because they're proprietary, some fear that skype conversation  
might be listened to for (economic or other kind of) intelligence  
purpose. The last reason explains why skype is forbidden, e.g., in  
all French universities and research centers.
Obviously, these reasons can be combined with protection of telecom  
operators revenues. They could be protected at the government level  
(total prohibition in a country) or by the telcos themselves, e.g.  
through contractual restrictions on Internet access through mobile  
phones. The latter are very common in France, and they generally  
concern both P2P and VoIP protocols.

Best,
Meryem____________________________________________________________
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