[TriLUG] Of Topic: Best VOIP options

[MG]

" That's bad enough, but now Skype is going to be owned by eBay."  Not 
the sale of Skype on Ebay, but to Ebay.   (That would have made for some 
interesting bidding).  The article goes into what Skype's closed source, 
"trust us" attitude, combined with their willingness to help themselves 
to user's computer resources, combined with the detailed comsumer 
information available to the owner of Ebay would mean.  The writer 
didn't sound like an alarmist to me, and he was worried about this. 

MG

Kevin J. wrote:
> ...prospective EBAY sale?
>
> Kevin
>  
> It's not a bug, it's a *feature*!
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: MG <mgmonza at gmail.com>
> To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion <trilug at trilug.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 2:35:54 AM
> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Of Topic:  Best VOIP options
>
> Thanks for that info.  And from a long-time Gizmo user, I hear Gizmo's 
> not encrypted computer to landline or cell phone.  I could live with 
> that, just not the taking-over-the-computer thing.  That looks even 
> worse now, given the prospective EBAY sale.
>
>
> MG
>
> Neil L. Little wrote:
>   
>>  From what I could find with a quick google, it looks as though GIZMO is 
>> benign as opposed to Skype. Gizmo is also centralized
>> around a few servers. It is also uses an open protocol as opposed to 
>> Skype. Check this out.
>>
>> http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/357
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Neil Little, WA4AZL
>> JARS Forever!!
>>
>> MG wrote:
>>   
>>     
>>> Do you know if GIZMO is doing this too?  This is from their Privacy 
>>> Policy - Service and Site page:
>>>
>>>
>>> "What Resources Do We Use and How Do We Use Them?
>>> During the course of using Software, disk space, bandwidth and 
>>> processing power may be utilized to provide the Gizmo Project Services 
>>> to you and to communicate with other Gizmo Project users. The system has 
>>> been designed so that using Gizmo Project will not interfere with the 
>>> normal operations of your computer."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Neil L. Little wrote:
>>>   
>>>     
>>>       
>>>> There are quite a few VOIP options out there but I can tell you that 
>>>> Skype is one of the most evil.
>>>>
>>>> At the work place we started having issue with the LAN slowing down and 
>>>> couldnt put a finger on why this was happening.
>>>> I saw an article on Slashdot this weekend about Skype reading passwords 
>>>> profiles pugins etc.
>>>>
>>>> http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/26/1312256
>>>>
>>>> I though that this sounded some what evil and with a little digging came 
>>>> up with this:
>>>>
>>>> http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/2005/11/how-to-kill-skype-remove-skype.html
>>>>
>>>> Moving through several the links it seems that skype likes to be a 
>>>> supernode likes that extra bandwidth
>>>> and wants to us it for the edification and enjoyment of other skype users.
>>>>
>>>> There is even a little sentence in their agreement that tells you what 
>>>> they are going to do.
>>>>
>>>> "In order to receive the benefits provided by the Skype Software, You 
>>>> hereby grant permission for the
>>>> Skype Software to utilize the processor and bandwidth of Your computer 
>>>> for the limited purpose of
>>>> facilitating the communication between Skype Software users."
>>>>
>>>> Read the article it was very enlightening.
>>>>
>>>> I found I had several hosts on my network acting as relays for skype,
>>>> well had, not anymore they because skype is gone from my network.
>>>>
>>>> Oh, that bandwidth problem? Its gone.
>>>>
>>>> 73,
>>>> Neil Little, WA4AZL
>>>> JARS Forever!!
>>>>
>>>> Glenn Starling wrote:
>>>>   
>>>>     
>>>>       
>>>>         
>>>>> I have had great luck with Skype since my daughter lives in Honduras.
>>>>> Connections are better than with Ma Bell.  They have a Linux and a
>>>>> Windoze version.
>>>>>
>>>>> -- Glenn
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, 2007-08-27 at 10:59 -0700, Patrick Brewer wrote:
>>>>>   
>>>>>     
>>>>>       
>>>>>         
>>>>>           
>>>>>> What are the best VOIP options for personal use?  Best being some fuzzy combination of price and reliability.  I figure TRILUG members  will know if anyone in RTP does. :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Patrick 
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>        
>>>>>> ---------------------------------
>>>>>> Luggage? GPS? Comic books? 
>>>>>> Check out fitting  gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search.
>>>>>>     
>>>>>>       
>>>>>>         
>>>>>>           
>>>>>>             
>>>>>   
>>>>>     
>>>>>       
>>>>>         
>>>>>