Brand X decision could mean widespread VoIP blocking

[Fergie]

I tend to agree with Mr. Willison.

- ferg

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?"

http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/06/28/voip-cable-blocked-cx_de_0628voip.html

- ferg

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

-MH

W. Mark Herrick, Jr.
Director - Data and Network Security - Adelphia Communications
5619 DTC Parkway, Greenwood Village, CO 80111

[Jay_Ashworth]

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