bad email to get from your ISP... Korea blocking VoIP

[eagl]

A bad email to get from your isp...  Korea leading the way on hardline govt interruption of internet services that challenge traditional service monopolies.

Customer Notification Regarding Unlawful VoIP Service.


 

The second largest ISP carrier in Korea, Dacom has requested that SSRT notify USFK about the following information regarding the blockage of unlawful VoIP service. Dacom has officially declared that all unlawful VoIP traffic will be blocked from all Dacom's network on July 1st, 2006 at 00:00am.

Due to that many VoIP services are not legally authorized to provide telecommunication services in Korea and are illegally providing VoIP services using major ISP carrier’s facilities, they have been declared illegal by the Korean Government.(Laws & Rules for Telecommunications No. 33” and the “Laws & Rules for Telecommunications No. 4-3, 12, 19, 59-1, 32~2). Henceforth, any unlawful VoIP service that has not been authorized by the Korean Government will be terminated by other major ISP carriers in Korea as well.
Furthermore, the customers who are currently using unauthorized devices by the network operators are strongly recommended to disconnect such devices from the network immediately.

Since SSRT is well aware of the large number of subscribers of the above services in the USFK installations, SSRT requested the ISP carriers to postpone the blocking of unlawful VoIP service provider several times since last year. VoIP service was declared illegal since August last year in Korea. It became authorized for usage on October last year when the Korean Government registered the VoIP service. But many of the VoIP providing companies are not registered in Korea and the ISP carriers who believe that it's taking a negative impact on their business have decided to terminated those services.

Despite SSRT's numerous attempts to request the ISP carriers and the Korean Government to delay the blocking of unauthorized VoIP services, a notice about the blockage of unlawful VoIP service to be performed on July 1st, 2006 was carried out on Thursday, June 22nd. We are still in the process of delaying the 'blockage' and would like to make it clear that SSRT has no intention to block the VoIP services. Not only will it hurt our business but we also realize that this will cause inconvenience to a lot of our customers as well.

The blockage of unlawful VoIP services is not only related to the USFK installations but to nationwide VoIP customers of both Koreans and foreigners alike. And we would like to acknowledge the fact that the blockage of unlawful VoIP services is neither in any event related nor relevant to SSRT Co, Ltd. It’s being carried out by the Korean Government and the ISP carriers.

Meanwhile, SSRT is coming up with plans to eliminate the inconvenience and damages to the related customers in time of the blockage of unlawful VoIP services.

We would like to recommend to the customers who have any of the unlawful VoIP services to contact those VoIP service providers and request them to register for legal authorizations from the Korean Government. If this will be troublesome, we suggest that you change your service to a legally authorized VoIP service. SSRT is more than happy to assist you in finding a lawful VoIP provider. In case, you are not certain whether your current VoIP service is a legal service, please, feel free to contact or visit any SSRT Telecommunication/Mobile Center for further assistance.

Please refer to the following link: "Dacom’s Memorandum Regarding the Blockage of Unlawful VoIP Services <http://www.i-mnet.com/images_in/dacom.html> " for further information.

For any further inquiry regarding the blockage of unlawful VoIP service that will take place on July 1st, 2006, please contact:

 

Mr. Won, Jaff [Dacom Senior Manager for Carrier Account Team] Office Phone: 02-2089-8620 Mobile Phone: 010-5547-8682
Email: won0506@chollian.net

Ms. Huh, Miehea [Dacom Carrier Account Team] Office Phone: 02-2089-5439 Mobile Phone: 010-8233-8091
Email: miehea@dacom.net

[Rolex]

Uhhh, there are licensed Korean VoIP providers. Korea is expanding VoIP service and is doing it by assigning a specific number prefix and assuring companies offering it are legitimate, have sufficient financial and technical resources and management.

If you want to see true government intervention of internet services, you can get a belly full of it when you get back to the US - with the FCC and local franchise monopolies in the US.

[eagl]

Yea, because a string of ones and zeros that describe a web page or song is *totally* different from a string of ones and zeros that describe a voice conversation...

Not.

It's all about the $$$ and who can make obsolete laws work to their advantage, both here and in the US.  And in the meantime, it's the consumer who suffers.

You can't possibly say that 10k worth of ones and zeros describing a web page costs more than 10k worth of ones and zeros making up a conversation, but that's how it's being presented in terms of "legal service".  As a casual VoIP user, I don't need rigid consumer protections, I need my ones and zeros to make it from my computer to my wife's computer in the same way that the ones and zeros that describe the funny valentines day picture I sent to my wife made it from here to there.  Without govt. intervention.

I pay for bandwidth, and it shouldn't matter what content is sent or received.  It's all ones and zeros as far as the bandwidth providers are concerned, so any enforcement of laws regarding pre-internet services are entirely about protecting ancient revenue sources.  It has NOTHING to do with protecting the customer/citizen/consumer, because we pay for bandwidth, period.  Only the lawyers and corporations are concerned with what the ones and zeros describe...  To the people paying for the bandwidth, it's all about getting ones and zeros from point A to point B.

HTC knows all about this...  Skuzzy has to write a check for a certain number of $$$ per month based on network access, regardless of what flavor of ones and zeros flow thru the pipes.  Of course, some corporate lobbyists are trying to make certain ones and zeros more expensive than others and they're blocking the so-called "net neutrality" laws, but what they're really fighting is the idea that it should cost the same amount to send a one or zero from point A to point B, regardless of what that one or zero will be combined with to create an aggregate form.  These lobbyists are trying to protect their buggy whips and flax-oil lanterns against the horseless carriage and electric lightbulb, and they're doomed to failure.  The only question is how painful they'll make it for the consumer while they resist the inevitable transition to universal digital content transmission.

[Rolex]

I agree and will regret to see the demise of net neutrality.

What I disagree with is your introduction characterizing Korea as, "leading the way."

How in the hell did us old guys ever manage to survive overseas tours without our preferred VoIP provider? Hang in there, eagl. Life is tough, but you'll survive.

[Vulcan]

Originally posted by eagl
A bad email to get from your isp...  Korea leading the way on hardline govt interruption of internet services that challenge traditional service monopolies.

How different is this to the protectionism the US Government practises on its own industries, such as steel, lumber, wool etc?

[Dos Equis]

I bet they'll be indiscriminate about port filtering, though.

They may get Ventrillo and Skype and just cast a great big net.

Speaking of seeing patterns in 0s and 1s, I just saw a tool that can pick out VOIP streams no matter what port or what codec it is using. I had to admit, it was a very cool tool. It could derive the underlying siganlling type, such as SIP or H.323. If you like to spy on people, it was awesome.

Well, Eagl - what we need now is the VOIP equivalent of Hushmail. Somebody to step up and accept encypted calls and be outside any harmful jurisdiction. And don't forget the undernet developing of guys running Asterisk.

I can give you pointers if you need them.