By Steven C. Judge
Summary:Â The fast-emerging technology of Voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) has incited a debate over whether it should be regulated and who should be assigned the task. VoIP technology involves a blend of two industries: telephone, which has regularly been the subject of regulation, and the Internet, which has normally been left alone. The concern involved is that however the regulatory scheme is set up, it will have untold, and probably far reaching, impacts on the Internet.
Too much regulation could restrict the developing technology and adversely affect the impact on the Internet, but too little could have the same adverse effect on the telephone. It is important that when determining how to regulate VoIP, that the regulatory bodies, both state and federal, look to the past mistakes made in the regulatory schemes for the telephone.
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