July 17, 2006
Net Neutrality Hypocrisy In The Korean VoIP Scandal
The issue of members of the US Military not being allowed to use their VoIP services at a base in South Korea has been temporarily resolved, but it took the US government to step in.
Interestingly enough, as VoIP News points out, the reason for the whole kerfuffle has to do with several Korean telecos feeling as if the military base members were not paying for the bandwidth they were using. Gee, where have we heard that * cough * net neutrality * cough * before?
So it's okay that the US government can interfere when another country's telcos feel they're not being compensated, whether rightly or wrongly. But when interested parties here feel that the American telcos are doing the same thing in the United States, why is the government turning a deaf ear? Do private US citizens not matter as much? Isn't this called hypocrisy?
I've been using the Internet since 1991 or 92, when it was the "web", and consisted of only a few services such as FTP and limited email. The one thing that I was regularly reminded of was that the Internet was free and open - it was the purpose for its creation: to share information. Sure, commerce took over. But anyone who thinks the telcos were not compensated for their services forgets that a T1 line cost about $1000/month in 1996, and prices went up exponentially from there.
I maintain that it's still just bully boy politics, with telcos seeing their bottom line disintegrate to cheaper VoIP service. Indications are that the number of VoIP subscribers will more than quadruple in just four more years. Telcos, your tactics are transparent. So, if you can't beat'em, VoIP'em and strike up alliances.
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