nanog mailing list archives

Re: Brand X decision could mean widespread VoIP blocking


From: "Jay R. Ashworth" <jra () baylink com>
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 16:55:21 -0400


On Tue, Jun 28, 2005 at 08:35:31PM +0000, Fergie (Paul Ferguson) wrote:
-- "W. Mark Herrick, Jr." <mark.herrick () adelphia com> wrote:
Jeff Pulver makes a good point in a Forbes article
when he says "I believe it's a matter of when, not
if" providers start blocking VoIP traffic from
competitors across their own infrastructure, especially
on the heels of the Brand X SCOTUS ruling.

"If I'm a service provider offering my own voice
over broadband offering, and I've got the ability
to block my competition, why not?"

Harold Willison, my peer and Director of HSI Transport, Design, and 
Engineering at Adelphia, explains exactly why that would not be a fantastic 
idea, in the following article:

http://www.ct-magazine.com/archives/ct/0605/0605_internetprotocol.htm

I tend to agree with Mr. Willison. ;-)

Smartalec.  :-)

Willison correctly takes both sides of the issue, which, as usual, is
an elephant: how you see it depends on where you stand.  I thought, as
you did, Ferg, that he did a good job illuminating what the sides are,
and how to best interact with all of them:  Don't block unless you have
to to be secure; work with the providers to nudge their protocols into
the most easily securable form.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra () baylink com
Designer                +-Internetworking------+----------+           RFC 2100
Ashworth & Associates   |  Best Practices Wiki |          |            '87 e24
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