TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: Vonage's Citron Says VoIP Blocking Is 'Censorship'

Re: Vonage's Citron Says VoIP Blocking Is 'Censorship'

Dean (cjmebox-telecomdigest@yahoo.com)
4 Mar 2005 12:37:16 -0800

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But Lisa, see the two earlier messages
> in this issue on this topic (Jack Decker and Danny Burstein). It
> would appear the 'government' in the form of the FCC *did* get
> involved in this 'censorship' case, and after a friendly chat and a
> fine, the ISP had a change of attitude. And unlike at your place of
> employment, where someone else is paying the bill, here we have a
> public service where presumably the customers are paying the bill for
> the type of service they wish to receive. PAT]

Yes Pat, but it didn't do it on the basis of the 1st Amendment. As I
understand it, the fine was to preserve "Net Freedom" (Powell's term)
and although I like it, I still don't understand the legal basis for
this action. It seems to me the Telco's ought to be concerned about
this because if there is now a "must carry" rule for VoIP traffic, what
happens when they start to offer TV/video? Will they be forced to allow
competing networks to service their customers? (I don't mean specific
channels because the analogy breaks down there). In other words, can I
have an SBC broadband connection and bypass SBC's future TV offering to
get my TV service (over that same broadband connection) from "PatTV"?
If that's the case doesn't SBC lose some of its incentive to push
broadband? (I presume the profit margin for the TV service will be much
higher than for the access service, so that's where they'll expect to
make their money, right?)

Regards,

Dean

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