Re: Lots getting away with it
Unfortunately they are likely to hit a carrier that is not trusted and has no agreement with
There is a way to deal with that. Make the terminating network liable if it cannot reliably identify the source.
How would that work ?
Well Taking the example given, Virgin will finger Vodamoan (and get itself off the hook), and Vodamoan will finger Arbinet. Lets suppose that Arbinet cannot reliably identify the caller, then they are liable for any fines - and as (I'm guessing) they have a UK presence will be within reach of the authorities (and Vodamoan will be off the hook). But if Arbinet do not have a UK presence, then Vodamoan would be liable.
So what would happen is that Vodamoan would turn round to Arbinet and tell them 2 things : 1) we expect you to re-imburse us for these costs, and 2) if you want us to ever terminate a call for you again you'll fix your systems. It would be painful, but what would happen is that reputable carriers would end up blacklisting the scam friendly ones - and consumer pressure from the other end in the form of "I tried to call aunt Mabel in the UK but the call was blocked" would persuade any half-reputable carrier abroad to stop using the dodgy carriers.
The UK might not be able to pul this off by itself, but if it persuaded larger countries/blocks (such as US or EU) to join in then it would happen quite quickly.
The alternative is that Vodamoan simply increase it's termination rates to scam friendly carriers in order to cover the fines. These carriers would then either make a loss or pass on the extra costs - disrupting the business model.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
