Internet telephony--friend or foe? Congress has introduced legislation that would extend preemptions of state and local taxing authority to virtually any regulation of VoIP services, threatening millions of dollars in state and local revenues

Just as consumer were learning to navigate the fresh wireless world, a new technology has emerg that is again transforming the way individuals and businesses exchange information. Voice above Internet Protocol, or VoIP as it is commonly called, transmits telephone calls above a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular telephone line. The technology promises the one and the other highly customized telephone service and lower telephone bills. In the words of Federal Communications Chairman Michael Powell, VoIP exhibits the "most significant paradigm shift in the entire history of novel communications since the invention of the telephone"

VoIP transmutes the voice signal from your