VOIP to be Made Illegal in India 258
Krish writes "Providers like Skype, Yahoo, Net2phone, Dialpad, etc. will not be able to offer VOIP in India under the proposed govt. clampdown. BPOs and other call centers will face the axe if they use any of the VOIP services provided by the above companies. It is not clear if this clampdown will affect regular home users."
Re:In classic Slashdot form... (Score:5, Informative)
Only UNLICENSED VOIP to be made illegal in India (Score:5, Informative)
In the linked article it states that goal of the proposed legislation is that call centers are not going to be allowed to continue to use unlicensed VOIP. That is a huge difference from the Slashdot headline claiming that India is banning VOIP.
India is quite happy to have them use domestic Indian VOIP providers thereby allowing the government to tax and regulate them. Much like we have in the US where the FCC regulates and taxes VOIP providers.
Re:Network neutrality (Score:3, Informative)
The two sections I bolded implied that money is indeed being paid, and further, this section does too:
How do you pay a tax on something that you're not paying for at all?
Re:In classic Slashdot form... (Score:3, Informative)
The United States does that also. [wikipedia.org]
The difference is, the Indian politicians are having a discussion and planning and what not. The US politicians just slipped the law into a "terrorism" bill at 9:30 p.m. the day before it got voted on, without discussion.
So if you live in the US, don't get to upset with the Indian government. The Indians are probably more free than we are.
Re:FUCKIN-A YEAH!! (Score:3, Informative)
Malaysia (and Singapore) regularly outsource call center jobs to India. Should know; just got off the phone with someone from the National Kidney Foundation.
And yet, salaries are rising rapidly back in Hyderabad; folks getting 50% or a 100% raise is not unheard of. A top job in an Accenture in Singapore will pay you S$3.5k pm at the max; a job at Microsoft's India Development Center will give you 14 lakhs per annum at the very least. (For the rupee-challenged, INR 140000 pa > SGD 3500 pm)
The boom will stay for more time before it becomes bust is my prediction.
Re:In classic Slashdot form... (Score:3, Informative)
That is out and out incorrect. Under U.S. law, you have a right to remain silent. Period, end of story, not a single thing more to add. You don't need to explain any knick knacks to them, you don't have to give them your keys to your house, and you sure as hell don't have to give them a codebook to your coded diary just because the cops think you have written down your dirty deeds in there.
You are to remain silent at all times unless you want the police to use your words against you. That is a guaranteed fifth amendment right, and is the FIRST THING that cops tell you. If they don't tell you that you have the right to shut up, they can actually lose a case for failing to inform you of your rights.
What you are describing is the very definition of self-incrimination.
The U.S. used to have a law-enforcement method similar to the U.K. law you are describing. Under that law, strong encryption was classified as a munition, and required a license to use. However, we also have a law about the punishment fitting the crime. Specifically, the eigth amendment states, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Which means that the punishment for using unlicensed strong crypto was not to exceed the realistic damages caused by that usage, on a case by case basis. 30 years in jail would be considered extremely excessive for an otherwise minor violation.
Since then, strong crypto has been redefined under U.S. Law, allowing free access to all.
Come on .. Misleading Title! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:In classic Slashdot form... (Score:2, Informative)
Now enters the Internet into the picture. It is much much cheaper, and since you are already paying your broadband bill anyways, calls are virtually free. Which means the public and businesses stop using the traditional system and government starts losing its revenue.
It is not much of a problem if just some individuals do it. But lots of operators have cropped up which set up shop in some highrise housing lots of companies and offer this cheaper alternative to *all* the companies in it, to make their calls abroad. Government starts losing substantial revenue as a result.
It is not even easy to tax these operators. This being internet, there is no easy way of tracking how many calls were made and for how long. And each call made via VOIP means loss of business for the government run telephony department.
As a result you see the ban. It is not censorship. All it means is, that if you setup some major operation offering VOIP services to businesses ... and take substantial revenue away from the government... it is illegal. It is all about the money.
Re:Oh the irony... (Score:4, Informative)
It doesn't say that VOIP will be banned in India, it says:
1. Illegal Web calls by BPOs face axe
2. Companies...not use the services of unlicensed foreign service providers such as Net2Phone, Vonage, Dialpad, Impetus, Novanet, Euros, Skype and Yahoo
3. According to official sources, foreign players such as Skype, in addition to disturbing the level-playing field for bonafide licensees, were also causing great revenue loss to the government as they did not pay the 12% service tax and 6% revenue share on internet telephony.
4. The government move, when implemented, will fulfil a long-pending demand of internet service providers (ISPs).
5. ...call centres and BPOs can ensure that they are availing services from an authorised service provider.
IOW, VOIP won't be banned but more regulated.
The headline of this story is sensationalist.
VoIP is more than Skype, Yahoo Voice, etc... (Score:2, Informative)
You think the BPO call centers in India are answering your De*l support calls using Skype or Yahoo? Oh, please....
Most large call centers are using IP PBX "architecture". By IP WAN and QoS, the call center in India and the call center in US become one big "virtual" call center under one virtual IP PBX. Yes, there is voice traffic flowing between US and India, but that's not Skype or Yahoo voice or MSN.
These IP PBX brands include Avaya, Cisco, Nortel, and many others. I bet these are "licensed" VoIP brands in India.
-- Tin