Bangladesh Arrests People For Offering A VoIP Network
from the how-dare-you! dept
Moshe Maeir writes in to point out that the Royal Action Battalion in Bangladesh raided an illegal VoIP network provider over the weekend, arresting a group of people for daring to offer cheap overseas phone calls. We've actually written about the situation in Bangladesh with VoIP quite a few times. Back in 2003, the government finally said that it was allowing VoIP, but either that never happened or it did so in a very limited way (otherwise, why these arrests?). Back in 2005, there was a report showing how the VoIP blockade, which was designed to help the monopoly government-backed phone service, actually did a lot more harm to Bangladesh by making it harder for them to get involved in things like offshore call centers. Apparently, though, the government hasn't quite figured that out yet, and rather than allowing VoIP services to help the country grow, they're raiding and arresting those trying to improve telecom services in the country. Well, now the country joins the list of countries like Namibia and Belarus as places that arrest people who try to improve a country's telecom offerings.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
First off
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
First Off
And Idi Amin? Your thoughts on that one? I take issue with the philosophy that a government shouldn't be questioned.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And in with our 'offical' profits at the expense of the people :)
I agree with Truth - government should be questioned constantly.
It's not the only arrest these of people with VoIP Equipment, there was another.
http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_33610.shtml
Actually - sounds to me like they are squashing independent business to benefit 'corporate interests'
http://nation.ittefaq.com/artman/publish/article_31111.shtml
All in all, couldn't find a whole lot more on the situation, I guess it's possible it was just an 'illegal trade' issue.
However, considering they have 'blockaided' it in the past...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Smuggling sounds more likely
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
VoIP termination to Bangladesh is down!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
for voip resaler
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
2336
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
abdurrob
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
0088
[ link to this | view in chronology ]