House bill exports analog phone regs to VoIP

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.politechbot.com/docs/boucher.voip.bill.070604.pdf

There's a new bill in the House of Representatives to regulate phone 
calls made over the Internet. It was introduced this evening by Reps. 
Rick Boucher, D-Va., and Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., and it's called the 
Advanced Internet Communications Services Act of 2004. I've placed the 
text online and have a summary and commentary at News.com.

The AICS bill takes a more regulatory approach than a competing proposal 
from Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Miss. Boucher and Stearns say VoIP servcies 
"shall" be subject to access charges and universal service taxes -- 
which is a really big deal. More on this later.

Bill text:
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/boucher.voip.bill.070604.pdf

News.com coverage:
http://news.com.com/Congress+mulls+new+Net+phone+rules/2100-7352_3-5258191.html?tag=cd.top
http://news.com.com/Can+VoIP+survive+Congress%3F/2010-1028_3-5256334.html?tag=st.rn
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