February 14th, 2005
Vonage to FCC: get the telcos off our back
According to Advanced Pipeline, Vonage has been complaining to the FCC that some telco competitors are blocking its service from reaching certain types of end-user devices.
FCC Chair Michael Powell (yes, he is still in that position) is investigating.
Advance Pipeline’s source is Stanford law professor Larry Lessig, who during yesterday’s Silicon Flatirons conference in Boulder, referred to Vonage’s objections.
"’If Vonage is toast..because the ports are blocked, that’s not good,’" the article quoted conference host and University of Colorado Assoc. Professor of Law Phil Weiser as saying.
The same piece quoted Internet co-founder Vint Cerf as saying "’ the presumption (of the Internet) is that you’re fully connected. "Any attempts to block certain application types or types of content,’ he said, ‘will destroy the utility of the Net.’
BTW # 1: Vint Cerf currently is Sr. Vice President of Technology Strategy for MCI. I wonder if he has Verizon business cards on order?
BTW# 2: By the way, anything Larry Lessig says, I agree with. He’s a one-man force against copyright over-enforcement. And did you catch last week’s "West Wing?" Lessig’s namesake character was played by Christopher Lloyd of "Back To The Future" fame.
Do you suspect that Vonage is being done harm? Post a TalkBack.
Russell Shaw is an enterprise computing journalist, analyst and author based in Portland, Oregon. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
