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Google: "Unlike traditional carriers, Google Voice is a free, Web-based software application, and so not subject to common carrier laws." I don't get how price
by jeroen 17y ago
Google: "Unlike traditional carriers, Google Voice is a free, Web-based software application, and so not subject to common carrier laws."
I don't get how price or underlying technology figure in this. Almost all of the end-users won't see the difference between one system for making phonecalls and another, and I'm sure the rules are meant to protect exactly those people.
- jrockway 17y agoHow long until it's illegal to write an open source application unless it is accessible to blind disabled veterans? If something is completely free, it should not have to follow as many rules as paid services that are built upon government infrastructure.
- alain94040 17y agoSorry but your logic is flawed. Free or not, your app should obey the law. One good reason for that is that sometimes corporations will give away stuff and make money some other way. It would be bad(TM) if that allowed them to work around laws they don't like.
- jrockway 17y agoThe alternative is the software not existing at all. Is not existing better than existing in a not-entirely-functional form?
- jhancock 17y agoThere is a difference between providing "free software" and operating a "free service".
- jeroen 17y agoFair point. However, I feel the question "should they be subject to the same regulation as .." has the same answer as "are they competing with .." In this case that answer probably depends on who you ask.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]