A U.S. Federal Court has ruled this week that the State of Minnesota (and by extension all states) cannot regulate Internet telephone usage, known as VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), in the same way that the states presently regulate traditional phone lines and usage.

This is bound to be good news for VoIP services such as Vonage and Skype, who have been seeing a dramatic growth and adoption as VoIP services become more mainstream.

The State of Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission had argued that VoIP services were sufficiently similar to regular telephone services to warrant regulation by the state. Some consumer groups agree, saying that… [Continued...]