VoIP Port Blocking Draws Congressional Interest

Tue Mar 8 17:27:53 UTC 2005

On Tue, 8 Mar 2005, Fergie (Paul Ferguson) wrote:

> http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1773832,00.asp
>
> - ferg

'He also urged Congress to pass legislation to ensure the "complete 
neutrality" of wire-line and wireless telephone companies to enable VOIP 
customers to freely access any telephone network in the country.'

Some of the broad language in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 already 
does this, in my opinion. Some of the language is loose enough:
(from http://www.fcc.gov/Reports/tcom1996.txt)
`(45) NETWORK ELEMENT- The term `network element' means a facility or 
equipment used in the provision of a telecommunications service. Such term 
also includes features, functions, and capabilities that are provided by 
means of such facility or equipment, including subscriber numbers, 
databases, signaling systems, and information sufficient for billing and 
collection or used in the transmission, routing, or other provision of a 
telecommunications service.

I alluded a bit to this yesterday, about the arguable classification of 
any network as local loop, so long as it's transiting VOIP traffic. I 
don't think there's really much argument against the notion that VOIP is 
in fact a telecommunications service, in even the loosest sense of the 
term.

Following in that, IF an ISP is classified as a carrier because of this 
broad distinction, they're subject to, at a minimum:

`SEC. 251. INTERCONNECTION.
             `(a) GENERAL DUTY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS- Each
           telecommunications carrier has the duty--
                 `(1) to interconnect directly or indirectly with the
               facilities and equipment of other telecommunications carriers;
               and
                 `(2) not to install network features, functions, or
               capabilities that do not comply with the guidelines and
               standards established pursuant to section 255 or 256.

And in big shiny plain text:

           `SEC. 256. COORDINATION FOR INTERCONNECTIVITY.
             `(a) PURPOSE- It is the purpose of this section--
                 `(1) to promote nondiscriminatory accessibility by the
               broadest number of users and vendors of communications products
               and services to public telecommunications networks used to
               provide telecommunications service through--
                     `(A) coordinated public telecommunications network
                   planning and design by telecommunications carriers and
                   other providers of telecommunications service; and
                     `(B) public telecommunications network interconnectivity,
                   and interconnectivity of devices with such networks used to
                   provide telecommunications service; and
                 `(2) to ensure the ability of users and information providers
               to seamlessly and transparently transmit and receive
               information between and across telecommunications networks.

Now that this is on Congressional radar, I don't think Vonage, or any 
other VOIP provider, is going to be able to hold out much longer as an 
unregulated entity. It's entirely possible that ISPs, by extension, may be 
swept into this by association, as call termination providers. It's also 
possible that an entirely new set of fees, taxes, levies, and general 
political financial rapaciousness will now be imposed on internet 
traffic and providers.

- billn