[Asterisk-biz] bellster.net - GREAT advance

[Paul]

I'm starting to get confused so let's see what we have so far from this 
discussion. IANL also and I will further admit that the following 
conclusions are in harmony with my own opinions and those of an "elite" 
few others on this matter. Everybody else is wrong and in need of 
correction.

1) Running a bellster node could result in your girlfriend or even the 
police beating the crap out of you.

2) Running  a bellster node could result in your conviction and 
incarceration in some countries for theft of services or taking by 
deception.

3) Running a bellster node without blocking caller ID could result in 
unwanted calls from people whose language you don't speak.

4) Running a bellster node with an "unlimited" calling plan could get 
you in big trouble with your provider. The terms of service already 
prohibit reselling the service. I'm sure they will soon update it to 
clearly prohibit "sharing with the masses".

5) The expected prison term for running a bellster node is proportional 
to the per-minute rate to that country from the US48. Rates to countries 
where it is legal are already low.

6) The FBI is already looking into this and has assigned Special Agent 
Mumblefrantz to the investigation. He is currently enroute to Digium 
where he will attempt to confiscate the mailman server that hosts these 
lists.

7) Bellster is revolutionary and will provoke change. We should support 
it and promote it for that reason. We should also support and promote 
the sending of spam in order to bring about changes in the way email is 
handled. In fact we should support and promote anything that has good 
potential to be misused in an annoying manner just to see that it gets 
regulated sooner.

8) If you are in my local calling area and your bellster node results in 
telemarketing calls to me, I will not sneak over to your house after 
dark with wire cutters and I will never ever put a high voltage onto 
your pots line. I really do want telemarketing calls from people I can't 
understand selling products I don't want. I don't get enough of them 
already from my fellow countrymen.

To take it a step further: I remember seeing some bold statements from 
the MS cartel about open source being a major threat to the US economy 
and national security. Perhaps the major carriers can say the same about 
bellster.

Nick Bachmann wrote:

> What I think some of the people in this thread are missing is that 
> Special Agent Mumblefrantz will probably decide to show up in person, 
> if the call in question is serious, and take you down to the house for 
> a little "interview" session.  While I'm sure that the whole Bellster 
> concept is easily explainable, you really don't want to explain it 
> _after_ Special Agent Mumblefartz shows up at your office (or home, 
> for that matter) and leads you away for your "interview," while his 
> partner simultaneously executes his search warrant for your home, 
> office, car, etc.  So while you'll probably be vindicated, the whole 
> ordeal is probably not worth it to save a few bucks on your phone 
> bill.  Honestly folks, nufone is 2c/min! The adventurous can get 
> termination even cheaper!
>
> Also (standard IANL applies...), unless you're a common carrier, 
> terminating other people's traffic may be legally risky, certainly 
> civilly and maybe even criminally, depending on the circumstances...