North American Network Operators Group

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RE: US slaps fine on company blocking VoIP

  • From: David Schwartz
  • Date: Fri Mar 04 16:56:27 2005

> I don't speak for BroadVoice, but this seams to be to be stupid. Why
> should the government get involved in ISPs blocking ports? If customers
> don't like it, go to a new provider, what country is this??

	I'm curious how you'd feel if your local telephone company started
preventing you from calling its competitors. How about if you suddenly
discover your car won't drive you to a competitor's dealership due to a
lockout included by the manufacturer (that you neither knew about nor agreed
to when you bought it).

	It is only in the Internet business and the software business that a
company can sell you a product with no representations that it will actually
do anything and with you having essentially no recourse if it doesn't meet
your expectations. If I pay for Internet access, I expect to get it. And if
you're not actually providing Internet access, don't clima to.

	The Internet is not ports, it's not machines, it's not protocols. We could
change all that and it could still be the Internet. The Internet is a
philosophy, and the results of that philosophy. It's about making a good
faith best effort to connect to and exchange information with anyone else
who makes a similar effort.

	Let's not lose sight of the big picture. I sympathize with the "if you
don't like it go elsewhere" view, but I also believe that people should
provide the service they agreed to be provide, and when they fail to do so
without justification, they should be penalized for their fraud.

	DS