[FM Discuss] Fwd: [bytesforall_readers] IB asks govt to block all net telephony services

[Edward Cherlin]

FYI. Should we talk about this in Circumvention?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shubhranshu Choudhary <shu at cgnet.in>
Date: Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 10:21 PM
Subject: [bytesforall_readers] IB asks govt to block all net telephony
services
To: bytesforall_readers at yahoogroups.com




IB asks govt to block all net telephony servicesJoji Thomas Philip, ET
Bureau 15 September 2009, 10:34am IST






|
   NEW DELHI: The Intelligence Bureau has asked the communication ministry
to block all internet
telephony<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/IB-asks-govt-to-block-all-net-telephony-services/articleshow/5012734.cms#>(VoIP)
services to and from the country
 until the Department of Telecom (DoT) puts in place a mechanism to track
such calls.

The IB is of the view that currently, India does not have the capabilities
to track internet telephony calls — both domestic & international — and had
asked the DoT find an "early solution to this issue in the interest of
national security<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/IB-asks-govt-to-block-all-net-telephony-services/articleshow/5012734.cms#>".


"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. Moreover, of late a number of service providers in
India have started providing VoIP solutions for making calls both domestics
as well as foreign. 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," the IB said in its communication to the DoT, a copy of
which is with ET.

If DoT were to implement the IB directive, it will impact hundreds of
thousands of consumers who use the internet to make extremely low cost calls
to phones and free calls to computers across the globe. Telcos such as MTNL
in Delhi and Mumbai and many leading
ISPs<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/IB-asks-govt-to-block-all-net-telephony-services/articleshow/5012734.cms#>offer
internet telephony services.

In addition, any consumer with internet access can use services from
hundreds of companies such as Skype, Google, Yahoo! and Window Live, amongst
others.

According to telecom regulator Trai's latest performance indicators report,
consumers over 130 million minutes of internet telephony in the
January-March quarter 2009. This report also adds that 34 ISPs in India
offer net telephony services in India legally.

Cyber security expert Vijay Mukhi said that IB should have issued such
directions immediately after the 26/11 terror attacks. "The terrorists used
net telephony as they were aware that India did not have the technological
capabilities to do a live trace of such calls.

In the US and Europe, all players who offer VoIP services have provisions
that allow governments to track these calls. Many of them have also
installed equipment at their premises to monitor VoIP calls upon orders from
governments," he added.

The IB communication to the DoT also addresses a host of other security
related issues, including the presence of Chinese equipment vendors such as
Huawei & ZTE providing equipment such as
routers<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/IB-asks-govt-to-block-all-net-telephony-services/articleshow/5012734.cms#>&
switches to private operators and state-owned BSNL.

The IB has pointed out that Huawei is using state-owned Indian Telephone
Industries (ITI) to manufacture equipment in India, but did not actually
transfer the technology<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/IB-asks-govt-to-block-all-net-telephony-services/articleshow/5012734.cms#>,
thus posing a security threat to the country.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/IB-asks-govt-to-block-all-net-telephony-services/articleshow/5012734.cms


__._,_.___


 Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the
Web<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJmY2FkdGNvBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzM1MTUzNjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDA0NzM4BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3N0bmdzBHN0aW1lAzEyNTMwMjQyNzk->(Yahoo!
ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily
Digest<bytesforall_readers-digest at yahoogroups.com?subject=Email+Delivery:+Digest>|
Switch
to Fully Featured<bytesforall_readers-fullfeatured at yahoogroups.com?subject=Change+Delivery+Format:+Fully+Featured>
 Visit Your Group
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers;_ylc=X3oDMTJkbDdhOGJyBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzM1MTUzNjMEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MDA0NzM4BHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2hwZgRzdGltZQMxMjUzMDI0Mjc5>|
Yahoo!
Groups Terms of Use <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> | Unsubscribe
<bytesforall_readers-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe>

__,_._,___



-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://earthtreasury.org/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.flossmanuals.net/pipermail/discuss-flossmanuals.net/attachments/20090915/42c325f5/attachment.htm>