Skype Refuses to Comply with Ofcom 999 Ruling

Very interesting - but not at all surprising:

Windows Watch reports that Skype simply will not comply. Period.

Translation and summary: We are Skype. We do as we please, we don't care what anyone else says, does or thinks. We don't explain, and we don't comment. If anyone else doesn't like it, too bad.

This is what they have been absolutely terrified of happening in the U.S. - if they are required to comply with the U.S. 911 dialing regulations, they will be in deep trouble. That's the reason they won't let you tie a SkypeIn and SkypeOut subscription together, because it makes them look too much like a phone company. That's the reason they will attempt to ignore this Ofcom ruling, because if they comply, it opens the door to the U.S. 911 regulations.

jw 24/9/2008

Update: I like what Andy Abramson says in his VoIP Watch blog about this. Exactly how does skype demand open access to the wireless network, and then out the other side of their mouth they say that these regulations don't apply to them? Put another way, if someone is using their mobile phone "normally", making a call via their cellular service provider, they must have access to 999 emergency calls, but if they are using the same mobile to make a Skype call, they don't need to have 999 access? Perhaps this is just a case where the nationwide emergency call functionality is more of that nasty backward technology that would stifle innovation at Skype, and they don't want to soil themselves by connecting to it.

jw

Update: It didn't take long for the Skype Cheerleaders to come up with a bunch of excuses for Skype not complying. What it boils down to is a bunch of whining about how difficult it would be to get it right. To take the Cheerleaders' own example, the advertisers who serve up locally oriented content to me have no trouble determining whether I am in L.A. or London, but I guess that is "too hard" for Skype to determine.

jw 25/9/2008