02-04-2007, 01:35 AM
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 Re: NEWS: Michael Robertson on VoIP wars and Net Neutrality
Mark McIntyre wrote:
> On Sat, 03 Feb 2007 01:03:10 GMT, in alt.internet.wireless ,
> decaturtxcowboy <nope_none_@nowayspam.com> wrote:
>
>> John Navas wrote:
>>> On Fri, 02 Feb 2007 23:20:00 GMT, decaturtxcowboy
>>> <nope_none_@nowayspam.com> wrote in
>>> <AGPwh.24293$yC5.15673@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net> :
>>>
>>>> John Navas wrote:
>>>>> we know what happens to walled gardens on the internet - *they get driven out of the market."*
>>>> They get sued in court for blocking sites.
>>> Under what law (exact statute you have in mind)?
>> The same one the FCC has in mind when they fine the ISPs.
>
> Which one /exactly/? Definite its applicable to this scenario?
> And it applies how exactly, in Europe?
No dateline here, but you could use Goggle for some key words. Quote:
The FCC has spanked an ISP for blocking VOIP calls so that the ISP’s
subscribers were SOL. Addressing the SNAFU, the FCC indicated that an ISP
blocking its users from accessing VOIP services is FUBAR. (How’s that for
MAU? [Maximum Acronym Usage])
Seriously, the decision this week by the FCC involving North Carolina ISP
Madison River Communication, and their blocking of VOIP services to their
users, lead to a nolo contendre plea by Madison River, along with a $15,000
file. Nolo contendre, which essentially means “no contest”, is considered
to be a plea of neither “guilty” or “not guilty”, and in one of Aunty’s
favourite definitions, is defined as meaning “I didn’t do it, and I’ll
never do it again.”
Madison River, which operates four telephone companies servicing rural
areas of Georgia, Alabama, Illinois, and North Carolina, had been blocking
the port typically used by VOIP services so that no VOIP data was able to
get through - hmmm, I wonder why?
Said Chris Murray, Director of Government Affairs for VOIP provider Vonage,
of a customer of a subsidiary of Madison River, “They gave no notice [to
the customer]. [His Vonage service] had been working and one day he woke up
and it didn’t work.”
FCC Chairman Michael Powell said that the FCC “saw a problem, and we acted
swiftly to ensure that Internet voice service remains a viable option for
consumers,“ adding that the industry “must adhere to certain consumer
protection norms if the Internet is to remain an open platform for innovation.”
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