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I wonder if there is a connection between this story and this other story on News.com about Google's apparent desire to acquire "dark fiber".

There is really no reason why phone service and internet service should be distinct. Nor is there any reason why a phone call should cost any more than listening to audio clip or viewing a video on the net. There are mainly two pieces missing:

A directory service to allow users to find each other, no matter where they may be, and
Everybody on board, so that connecting a call to the POTS network is never necessary.

Outfits like Vonage have been making progress at solving both those problems. But the truth is, if your other party is online, and you know their IP address, you can talk without Vonage or Google or anything else but your respective ISPs. And if you use encryption, your call can't be tapped (at least not without a "bag job").

But the truth is, if your other party is online, and you know their IP address, you can talk without Vonage or Google or anything else but your respective ISPs. And if you use encryption, your call can't be tapped (at least not without a "bag job").

Can you provide a link for this sort of direct-link VoIP software? I like Skype, but I knew direct-link ought to be possible if you know the IP addresses. Would be nice to be independent of centralized lookup databases just in case.

I think we ought to promote VoIP to as many people as possible, and get them using it at least occasionally. We need to get millions of people to like it before Big Stupid Government tries to squish it due to Big Telco lobbyists.

But the truth is, if your other party is online, and you know their IP address, you can talk without Vonage or Google or anything else but your respective ISPs.

This is true, but Google is in the directory business, not telephony.

They'll end up buying one of the VOiP companies, Skype or Vonage or Lingo, provide really cheap LD service, and make money building a "Google phone directory" and linking it to ads and other search services.

If you have a robust directory architecture and migrate users to your service for telephony, you don't really need phone numbers to locate other users on the system. Just unique IDs mapped to IP addresses. Phone numbers are simply unique string indentifiers. Nothing more.

Looks to me as if Google is out to coopt and perhaps break the entire model of telephony based on phone numbers.