[governance] ISPs, PTA lock horns over illegal VoIP

[William Drake]

Hi Meryem,

On Jun 19, 2009, at 5:38 PM, Meryem Marzouki wrote:

> 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.

Sure, problem definitions evolve and change over time, and of course  
vary across actors including state agencies etc.  Back in the day the  
ministries of comm and PTT/PTOs were clearly most concerned about loss  
of revenue and economic control over the networking environment.  VOIP  
was very much seen in telecom policy circles as another "new mode of  
operation" that---like international international simple resale, call- 
back, hubbing and refile, and erosion of the accounting and  
settlements system---undermined market dominance.  I don' recall  
anyone in ITU or related industry circles talking much about security/ 
surveillance concerns, although undoubtedly there were people in other  
agencies/ministries that saw things through that lens.  But post-9/11  
security/surveillance has become a generalized preoccupation across  
agencies/ministries, one that inter alia has been in substantial  
tension with the whole global market liberalization campaign launched  
in the early 80s.

> The last reason explains why skype is forbidden, e.g., in all French  
> universities and research centers.

Seriously?  Your sysadmin blocks downloading the program?  If a techie  
figures out a work around and install, uses, and is discovered, what  
happens, are campus police sent?

> 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.

Right, there are a variety of differentiated treatments, as was  
reflected in the ITU tables I sent, which alas lost the formatting but  
were hopefully still readable.

Best,

Bill
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