Daily Yomiuri Online carries news of a group of telephone scammers in Tokyo brought to book who were using Voice over IP telephony services as part of their operation.

I want to point out here that, like most other comminication technologies, VoIP can be used by criminals. That doesn’t make VoIP a ‘criminals tool’ or any such thing but those who break the law are often liable to utilise legitimate tools for nefarious purposes.

While the article doesn’t actually detail what the nature of the scam was, it is noted that the scammers were using VoIP to ‘conceal’ their true location. They used a VoIP service through NTT docomo’s network which allowed them to place calls remotely as if they were originating from Tokyo’s ‘03′ area code.

Ultimately, the scammers were not very sophisticated and were traced through NTT docomo. It does however bring to attention the fact that more advanced scammers could operate from outside the country in which the scam is being perpetrated and there ought to be future work on the best methods for securing VoIP networks against this sort of criminal activity.

Fortune is speculating that Skype may be place up for sale by their owners Ebay.

Skype has been providing a proprietary peer-to-peer Voice over IP platform since 2003 and was bought by Ebay in September of 2005.

Fortune cites that ‘uneasy fit’ and the $3.1bn originally paid by Ebay as possible reasons for the sale.

Comcast say they have reached a collaborative agreement with Vonage which appears to suggest that while Comcast have their own VoIP offering, they wont be blocking or degrading Vonage’s rival product.

Quite where that leaves other SIP and proprietary VoIP users on Comcast’s network is anybody’s guess.

Comcast also say they haven’t been blocking any rivals VoIP in the past either but accusations have been levelled at them.

Connection quality is critical for Voice over IP applications as you need as much of the data as possible to arrive in a timely manner. ‘Packet loss’ in a VoIP conversation can manifest itself as a degradation of quality in the call followed by the call actually breaking up and finally being dropped altogether when too few packets arrive. Delaying of data at the ISP level can cause issues where the latency of the call makes normal conversation difficult.

Openmoko have launched the Neo Freerunner, it’s first mass-production open-source mobile handset.

Neo Freerunner does not yet have a VoIP application but with it’s built-in WiFi and linux based, open software architecture, it looks like it will only be a matter of time before a SIP compliant application is ported. Telepathy, a framework which allows IM and Voice over IP integration looks like a prime candidate.

The Neo Freerunner is designed with sensitive corporate environements in mind. The lack of camera and the possibility of a full code audit should put minds at ease in the board-room.

Specifications:

Connectivity:

• GSM
• Bluetooth 2.0
• GPRS
• AGPS
• WiFi (in final version)
• USB 1.1 slave and host
• 2.5-mm audio jack

Memory

• 128 MB SDRAM
• 256 MB NAND flash

Display

• 2.8 in. VGA (480×640) TFT

Dimensions

• 120.7mm × 62mm × 18.5mm

The Neo Freerunner is available now in North America, Europe and Asia with a MSRP of $399 US.

Jajah, the phone-voip-phone Voice Over IP service provider has launched a localised service for Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Jajah allows you to call a special number from a normal landline to make a long-distance connection using Voice Over IP. The new localisation of the service in Eastern Europe will provide a call-in number for those countries.