[VOIPSEC] Odd e911 VoIP Regulatory Question

[Victor Pascual Ávila]

Hi Klaus,

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 1:33 PM, Klaus Darilion
<klaus.mailinglists at pernau.at> wrote:
>
>
> Victor Pascual Ávila schrieb:
>>
>> 2009/1/29 Danijel Starman <Danijel.Starman at iskon.hr>:
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: voipsec-bounces at voipsa.org
>>>> [mailto:voipsec-bounces at voipsa.org] On Behalf Of Carlos Alvarez
>>>> Sent: 29. siječanj 2009 2:57
>>>> To: voipsec at voipsa.org
>>>> Subject: Re: [VOIPSEC] Odd e911 VoIP Regulatory Question
>>>>
>>>>> On Jan 28, 2009, at 4:54 PM, Dustin D. Trammell wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> If he's disconnecting them due to nonpayment, I would argue
>>>>
>>>> that it's
>>>>>
>>>>> safe to say that they are no longer a customer.  You left
>>>>
>>>> off the second
>>>>>
>>>>> half of that bullet point.  Here it is in it's entirety:
>>>>
>>>> That's a very logical argument.  However, many huge lawsuits have
>>>> drained a lot of money from defendants with a logical defense.  The
>>>> question here is two-fold in my opinion:  What am I legally
>>>> required to
>>>> do, and what should I do to cover my butt?
>>>>
>>>> We have not yet had to disconnect a customer for non-payment,
>>>> but this
>>>> discussion has pointed out the need for us to at least
>>>> include language
>>>> in our contract that specifies that we will not carry 911 calls if a
>>>> customer is disconnected for any reason.
>>>
>>> This is an interesting discussion. I think a lawyer should be consulted
>>> in any case.
>>> Our residential customers are SIP users, first step after they don't pay
>>> after warnings is to stop them from making calls except for the emergency
>>> numbers and our toll free number. We are required by law to do this (In
>>> Croatia). If the customer doesn't pay after this after a period he is
>>> deactivated in our system and he can't make any calls. I belive this is in
>>> the contract the user signs (but I will check). I don't see a reason that a
>>> SIP trunk (or any other trunk) user should be any different.
>>
>> I've just taken out my SIM card from my GSM phone, and I can still
>> dial the emergency number (112). Why should this be different for VoIP
>> networks?
>
> Your GSM phone can listen for broadcast signals of available GSM networks
> and thus it is technically possible.

I was not discussing whether it is technically possible or not-- my
point was that the GSM operator will route my call (I'll use
resources) if I'm not a fair customer and even if I'm not a customer
at all (DoS opportunity?). So, if my SIP UA is configured to use a
given service provider but I didn't pay the bill: shall the service
provider reject my call? In addition: shall any service provider
challenge such an invite? (again, DoS opportunity?)

I'm pretty sure it has been previously discussed, but I didn't follow it.

> If you have a naked SIP phone, the phone can not listen for available SIP
> providers. Nevertheless there should be no need. The PSAP should be
> reachable also via SIP directly. The PSAP can be found using lost. For more
> info just take a look at the ecrit IETF WG and the NG911 project.

This is an interesting work indeed.

Cheers,
-- 
Victor Pascual Ávila