Intelligence Bureau (IB) has instructed communications ministry to block all VoIP calls (to and fro) until DoT figures out mechanism to track net telephony calls.
“In the absence of Caller Line Identification (CLI) parameters of calls landing from abroad, it’s next to impossible to identify the country of location of the caller. The calls passing through the VoIP/IP route contain inadequate parameters rendering it impossible to trace the actual callers. As DoT had conveyed that it is not possible to mandate transmission of CLI from abroad, we had approached DoT to block such calls till a technical solution is found” – source
As per TRAI’s latest numbers, over 130 million minutes of internet telephony conversation happened in the Q1 of 2009 and there are 34 ISPs who provide net telephony service in India (legally).
Of course, these directives stems from terrorist attack threats (and govt’s inability to track these conversations) – the bigger question that arises is how correct is government in blocking technology play in the disguise of national security? (remember Blackberry case?)
And this isn’t the first time, govt. has mulled over such ‘technically-challenged’ decision (read: Indian Govt. wants Google/Yahoo/Microsoft to Host Indian Email accounts ending with .in, servers in India) – we just hope government invests in upgrading it’s archaic infrastructure and saves us from such t(ech)aliban-like decisions.
Also see: Jaxtr India Numbers shutdown (illegal usage) | 88% of Mumbai Wireless Networks are open for hackers
Technically, this is impossible to do. A blockage of such order is going to affect only the unsophisticated users.
Case in point:
(a) SB.com is blocked but there are proxies to harness the same content
(b) Skype is blocked in Dubai, but people have found “hacks” to get around that
(c) Hulu.com is blocked for non-US content [http://www.hulu.com/watch/94447/glee-showmance], but people are able to get their daily “fix”
(d) People found a way around to circumvent “great firewall of china” (Google it)
I’m sure smarty pants will figure a solution out and as usual average desi junta will be deprived of the innovation at large.
We’re not living in the world of BBS, anymore!
These ministry guys are so myopic that they can’t even understand what it means to be close-door all the time… sad. when will the younger generation replace these oldies?
Damn… who will foot high ISD bills after this which we avoid by using services like Nymgo/Fring/Skype….
What next? Block all PCO’s and public phones in airport… because they can’t trace the caller!!! Funny guys and funny rules.
Will this also affect use of services like Jaxtr?
But why ? i dnt see any reason to block the voip calls
So it means that if we make calls from voip to any mobile or landline, cant be traced ? i think the operators will have the server number when a call is received ? please some one correct if i am wrong, If voip is banned, it will be loss for so many middle class families talking to their kids settled or working in abroad