In light of growing worries about packet blocking by network operators, Vonage CEO Jeff Citron is looking for the U.S. government to introduce a Broadband Bill of Rights. It's based on the idea that consumers have the right to use broadband service in any way they desire - whether it's music, e-mail, voice or Web browsing services.
"I'm not a proponent of legislation but in this case the public needs to have something that gives you the right to use broadband any way you see fit," he said.
Citron's call for a BBoR is not a surprise given Voange has complained about its service being blocked. The FCC recently hit Madison River Communications with a $15,000 fine for blocking Vonage traffic. While many large network operators have vowed they have no plans to block third-party applications/service, there is no guarantee it won't start to happen when the Web-based services business starts to see strong growth.
Without legislation, Citron said there's the real danger that network owners will block anything they see as a competitive threat - be it a voice service or a Web site. While Citron's call for a BBoR is self-serving, he is putting the spotlight on a potentially troubling and dangerous issue that could deal the Web a serious blow. I'm not sure legislation is the way to go but there needs to be clear regulations in place and tough penalties for anyone who engages in packet blocking or re-prioritization.
In QoS-related news, the Yankee Group believes Vonage's share of the U.S. Internet telephony market will tumble from 66% to 19% by year-end as cablecos rumble into the business. Yankee said a big problem for Vonage and alternative providers such as Packet8 and Lingo -- is that they ride over broadband networks controlled by other companies.
"Unless they strike a deal with broadband providers and others, they can't guarantee time-sensitive voice packets are given priority over other data, such as someone's illegal movie download," the research firm said. "That could result in poor call quality."

It’s always interesting to see where CEOs, who flamed out in the dot-com world, emerge for their next gig. George Shaheen, who was at the helm as WebVan blew its brains out in a flawed attempt to dominate the online grocery world, has been named Siebel Systems’ new CEO. Since leaving WebVan in 2003, Shaheen hasn’t had to worry about his next meal is coming from. He received a $13.5-million signing bonus as a sweetner to leave Anderson Consulting. And even though WebVan cratered after blowing through nearly a $1 billion of venture capital, Shaheen had a $7 million loan forgiven. Sweet! Anyway, Shaheen has his work cut out trying to wage battle against Oracle and SAP on the high-end, and Salesforce.com on the low end. Good luck, George.

It is interesting there's been so much scorn of Videotron's decision to offer cable telephony starting at $15.95 a month for customers who also take its high-speed Internet and cable-television services. Earlier this week, Cogeco CEO Louis Audet criticized the pricing as short-sighted while a Bay. St. analyst said Videotron is leaving money on the table. It's almost as if cablecos are supposed to charge high prices so when someone breaks from the pack, its peer say "tsk, tsk,". Think about it: when cablecos announce they're going to raise prices another $2 or $3 a month, there is little grumbling because people love TV and are willing to accept service outages from time to time. But when telephone carriers raise prices, there's all kinds of protest about how it's an essential service and the impact it will have seniors, etc. Videotron's biggest problemwith its low-pricing strategy may not be its critics but meeting demand given they are doing truck rolls for each new telephony customer.