On NN workshop RE: Re: [governance] Three IGC workshops ) NN FYI DIPLO

[Roland Perry]

In message
<75822E125BCB994F8446858C4B19F0D7172066B2D7 at SUEX07-MBX-04.ad.syr.edu>,
at 11:28:31 on Mon, 18 Apr 2011, Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu>
writes
>> -----Original Message-----
>>
>> That definition excludes the possibility of blocking VoIP because the
>> incumbent telco doesn't want the commercial competition.
>
>[Milton L Mueller]
>
>No, it doesn't. The telco doesn't block ALL VoIP, it blocks someone else's VoIP

I wasn't thinking about VoIP that's blocked because it's a brand of VoIP
in which an ISP/Telco has a lack of commercial interest, but those
countries which block *all* VoIP because it offends their licencing
conditions, which in turn are probably there to protect the incumbent.
[And if you want to get complicated, maybe to protect the ability of the
authorities to wiretap].

>> VoIP is a clearly a "service type"; there are many owners and origins,
>> and the content could just as easily be people trying to book hotel
>> rooms, as calls to organise an anti-government protest meeting.
>[Milton L Mueller]
>
>VoIP is never blocked because it is a "service type," it is blocked because it is _your_ service and not" _my_ service, ergo it is
>discrimination based on the origin or owner of the service.

Even then, the extent to which (say) SIP is one service and Skype is a
quite separate and non-interoperable service; if an ISP/Telco decided to
block SIP voicemail because they[1] hadn't paid a levy and allow Skype
because it had[2], that could also be regarded as a breach of Service
Neutrality (SIP service being different from Skype), and not a breach of
Participant Neutrality because all SIP providers/users were treated the
same.

What this may in fact be demonstrating is that "Voice over IP" is too
broad a category to be used in this context, just as "Pictures over IP"
or "Written word over IP" might also encompass too many different
services to be taken as a single category.

[1] A broad coalition of commercial and non-commercial operators, so
     without settlement-based peering, collecting money is going to be
     very difficult.
[2] I'm not ruling out the possibility they might - one mobile network
     in the UK has an alliance with Skype and allows unlimited free
     Skype calls from its specially branded handsets.
-- 
Roland Perry
____________________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list:
     governance at lists.cpsr.org
To be removed from the list, visit:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/unsubscribing

For all other list information and functions, see:
     http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/governance
To edit your profile and to find the IGC's charter, see:
     http://www.igcaucus.org/

Translate this email: http://translate.google.com/translate_t