Russia’s most powerful business lobby has moved to clamp down on Skype and its peers this week, telling lawmakers that the Internet phone services are a threat to Russian businesses and to national security. The lobby (Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs or RUIE) says that 40% of calls could be made through VoIP services by 2012.
In partnership with Vladimir Putin’s political party, RUIE has created a working group to draft a new law to ban Skype and other VoIP telephone services from September. Interestingly, both New York Times and Pravda have referred to the isolated initiatives of blocking Skype by few West European carriers. Neither publication has, however, said how strongly the European Commission has been fighting back such anti-consumer steps.
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Sanjana Hattotuwa
Better Russian Roulette to Mahinda Mahjong that arbitrarily bans websites, bans porn, bans mobiles, bans SMS, bans martial arts, bans ‘immoral’ ads and bans independent reporting?