Skype now illegal in China

Skype now illegal in China

THE Chinese regulator has declared Internet phone services other than those provided by China Telecom and China Unicom as illegal, which is expected to make services like Skype unavailable in the country.

The decision was criticized as a measure to protect the duopoly of state-owned telecom carriers, media reports said yesterday.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said all VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) phone services are illegal on the Chinese mainland, except those provided by telecommunications carriers China Telecom and China Uniom. The ministry gave no timetable on when the ruling takes effect.

www.shanghaidaily.com...

it seems China is cracking down on a lot
of stuff. Google, then wikileaks cables and
now skype services.

Could it be China is targeting the CIA's
spying and dis-info campaign ???

Couldn't possibly be because when free communication begins, free thought soon follows? Or at least, it's supposed to. When is the world going to wake up and see China for the repressive state it is? Let's stop acting like they're the greatest thing since sliced cheese and start, oh I don't know, holding them to the same standard as everyone else?

Ok, sorry, rant over. Back to your regularly scheduled paranoia.

The law is the law.

Chinese people who use skype belong in jail.

If the government doesn't prosecute skype users then what else should they not prosecute? Drug dealers? Pimps? How long before the country descends into anarchy?

Cruel as they may be, these silly illogical laws that impede progress are all that is stopping civilization from collapsing.

I will sleep more calmly tonight knowing that the great Chinese government is doing all that it can to keep mankind afloat in this sea of cruel woe and stupidity.

Praise Mao!

*Thanks for making this thread BTW.

Thanks for posting.. Going to text my son there and let him know as he used skype for work.. Going to make it hard on business people in china as alot use skype..

I bet the same people who rally behind protecting local industry will condemn China for this action. Don't you know that to enact laws protect local industry you'll end up hurting the people who benefit from the freedom of trade?

I wouldn't be concerned, the Chinese will launch their own version called Skipe or something similar. Many Chinese still use Facebook.

I have a close friend in So.Calif that uses Skype daily with business colleagues in China. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. On the surface it looks like a big impact on international business with China, let alone basic freedoms.

China wants to maintain control as much as possible. They want to have the means to be able to monitor Skype somehow. I think this ban is something to enforce until they find a workable "solution".

this isn't a crackdown on Skype directly - it's more of a crackdown on all of the VOIP long distance providers selling phone cards on every streetcorner. That's the real issue - the money being lost by the state telecoms. Skype will probably be left alone, along with other incoming VOIP traffic, as there really is no way to block it.