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10.26.05
Skype Blocker Technology In The Wild
 By
David Utter
A California firm sells technology that allows telecoms to detect and block
or
interfere with VoIP packets entering their networks.
Countries with expensive telecom systems have had to watch as millions of
users
opt to use VoIP services to make cheap calls online. The IEEE publication
Spectrum
noted
how this has affected countries like Saudi Arabia. More importantly, it
reported
on how they have started to fight back.
Retaliation comes courtesy of software created by Mountain View, CA-based
Narus.
Its software can detect and identify VoIP packets traversing the switched
telecom
network. It can even tell a lot of times which software, like Skype or
Vonage,
generated the call.
German users will be introduced to Narus soon. Wireless communications giant
Vodafone
plans to implement the technology there. A French carrier, SFR, intends to
do
the same, the report said.
In the US, common carrier status prevents telecoms from blocking those
calls.
But they could use Narus to interfere with VoIP traffic enough to make it
"jitter,"
Narus' VP of product marketing said in the article.
Common carriers status doesn't extend to broadband providers like the
country's
largest cable company, Comcast, which is already a Narus customer. Thomas
would
not say if Comcast was blocking VoIP with Narus software.
The benefit of the Narus product comes to companies that wish to monetize
connecting
to certain content or with certain devices. Unfortunately, the use of
products
like Narus endangers the open nature of the Internet:
"Protecting its network is
a
legitimate thing for a carrier to do," says Alex Curtis, government affairs
manager
for Public Knowledge, a consumer-interest advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
"But
it's another thing for a Comcast to charge more if I use my own TiVo instead
of
the personal video recorder they provide, or for Time Warner, which owns
CNN,
to charge a premium if I want to watch Fox News on my computer."
"Consumers have come to expect a lot from the Internet-to be able to get to
any
site, for example, or any service, like VoIP," Curtis says. "Without Net
neutrality,
that goes out the window."
About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and
business.
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