July 27, 2009 at 10:18 Skype and the fate of VoIP in Russia
It’s not yet a scandal, but it’s already a news occasion: Skype and other VoIP services in Russia that are not approved by law enforcement agencies may become illegal.
Photo © Froda .
At a meeting of the Commission of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs on July 21, IP-telephony was discussed - in particular, there were figures that by 2012, 40% of Internet traffic will be occupied by IP-telephony - of course, without any state control.
A day later, Vedomosti described what was happening in a dispassionate reporting mode , but the next day, the New York Times, citing Reuters, was no longer shy in expressions: "This week, the most influential Russian business lobby gathered to crush Skype and other similar services, explaining to lawmakers that Internet telephony poses a threat to Russian business and national security."
The Times notes an important point: the presence of representatives of EdRa , the de facto ruling party in Russia, from the press release of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, it becomes clear that at the conference they discussed not only the very problem of uncontrolled VoIP services, but also .n. "Commission on Industry and Entrepreneurship of the Presidium of the General Council of the EdRo Party.
Still with me? I’m translating it into Russian if someone is not very clear: The Times are not far from the truth, because VoIP services that allow you to make worldwide calls using the Internet for ridiculous money are an eyesore for our (and not only ours) operators cellular and terrestrial communications, historically accustomed to superprofits, so right now another small, but revealing story begins about how businesses that do not want (unable / incapable / not interested) to optimize their business processes and change business strategies, are going to do everything possible You can take VoIP telephony under your wing and independently “regulate” (read - impose) tariffs on it.
Another curious point is that the intelligence services of absolutely all countries complain that Skype traffic is extremely difficult to track, so there is exactly one case of the official interception of Skype traffic in the history.
The move is understandable (especially against the background of a funny, slightly upsetting and rather imperceptible tariff review by three leading Russian mobile operators, which has been going on for several months and which is gradually inflating the average bill for cellular services - by the way, did you notice this?), But hardly successful - VoIP telephony has already grown from its infancy and has long been able to change ports, encrypt traffic and use distributed networks. We all know how the struggle with distributed networks ends - a story that culminated in the almost universal rejection of DRM is very, very instructive.
Photo © Froda .
At a meeting of the Commission of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs on July 21, IP-telephony was discussed - in particular, there were figures that by 2012, 40% of Internet traffic will be occupied by IP-telephony - of course, without any state control.
A day later, Vedomosti described what was happening in a dispassionate reporting mode , but the next day, the New York Times, citing Reuters, was no longer shy in expressions: "This week, the most influential Russian business lobby gathered to crush Skype and other similar services, explaining to lawmakers that Internet telephony poses a threat to Russian business and national security."
A review of this baby may become irrelevant? :(
The Times notes an important point: the presence of representatives of EdRa , the de facto ruling party in Russia, from the press release of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, it becomes clear that at the conference they discussed not only the very problem of uncontrolled VoIP services, but also .n. "Commission on Industry and Entrepreneurship of the Presidium of the General Council of the EdRo Party.
Still with me? I’m translating it into Russian if someone is not very clear: The Times are not far from the truth, because VoIP services that allow you to make worldwide calls using the Internet for ridiculous money are an eyesore for our (and not only ours) operators cellular and terrestrial communications, historically accustomed to superprofits, so right now another small, but revealing story begins about how businesses that do not want (unable / incapable / not interested) to optimize their business processes and change business strategies, are going to do everything possible You can take VoIP telephony under your wing and independently “regulate” (read - impose) tariffs on it.
Another curious point is that the intelligence services of absolutely all countries complain that Skype traffic is extremely difficult to track, so there is exactly one case of the official interception of Skype traffic in the history.
The move is understandable (especially against the background of a funny, slightly upsetting and rather imperceptible tariff review by three leading Russian mobile operators, which has been going on for several months and which is gradually inflating the average bill for cellular services - by the way, did you notice this?), But hardly successful - VoIP telephony has already grown from its infancy and has long been able to change ports, encrypt traffic and use distributed networks. We all know how the struggle with distributed networks ends - a story that culminated in the almost universal rejection of DRM is very, very instructive.