California Decides To Regulate Vonage
from the backwards-move dept
And you thought that California was a technically advanced state, and only confused states in the middle of the country would mistake a VoIP service like Vonage for an actual phone company. Not quite. California has now announced that, because it passes the oh-so-scientific "smells like a duck, quacks like a duck" test, VoIP systems like Vonage must apply for telephone operator licenses in the state. This is, of course, backwards thinking - trying to fit today's technology into yesterday's laws just to help cover the state's massive budget deficit. Next thing you know, you won't be able to use things like iChat or Skype without first paying the state of California.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
The alternative
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The alternative
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The alternative
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The alternative
If you're going to post stupid trolls, you could at least try to make them interesting.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The alternative
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The alternative
I'm fast losing in respect I had for you ...
Quit " fanning the flames " just because you don't see eye to eye with Dorpus ...
Who is the intelligent one and who is child ?
This is turning into slash/twat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: The alternative
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Consider this
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Consider this
I see, your one of the morons who believes the music industry should get paid every time you buy a blank CD even if you are using if for data storage.
Isn't this one of the reasons we succeed from England. You do remember the Boston tea party dont you?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Consider this
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Consider
Why don't we just allow the Gommnit to tax everything. Here's one: lets tax all sales. Then if I decide to sell my care that I already paid sales tax on and I make more than $10,000 I have to give the g'mint 8.5% of that. And if the guy I sell my car to sells it again, he has to pay the g'mint again, and so on. Oh! In California we already do that. I guess we all just really work the for Government.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
resurrection
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Just a nice factoid
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090904/1449236112.shtm
oops.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]