John Rumm wrote:
Chris wrote:

However, I thought Skype wasn't standards compliant (though I'm open
to be corrected on this):

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06..._versus_skype/


I did ask the question if it would integrate with skypeout, and they
answered that it would. To be honest I am not convinced as yet. I will
reserve judgment until I have had a chance to play with one.

Sounds like a good plan. Personally I'm a bit reluctant (perhaps
needlessly) to use Skype due to the issues with Kazaa and spyware.

Our phone bill is not significant enough to make a total shift to VoIP
worthwhile so I'm not that fussed about interfacing to PSTN.

I've just registered with Free World Diallup http://www.fwdnet.net/ to
have a play for now

--
Cut along the dotted line to reply

Sounds like a good plan. Personally I'm a bit reluctant (perhaps
needlessly) to use Skype due to the issues with Kazaa and spyware.

Our phone bill is not significant enough to make a total shift to VoIP
worthwhile so I'm not that fussed about interfacing to PSTN.

FWIW I have now had my line to Skype open for two days and have received and
sent Skype and SkypeOut calls. So far there have been no intrusions from
spyware or such. I use Norton 2004 Personal Firewall and an ADSL ethernet
hub router that uses a firewall and NAT.

I'll report any problems if they occur.

One thing strikes me. Skype encrypts data to create a virtual private end to
end line. Does this mean that calls are more difficult/impossible to
intercept?

Peter Scott

Peter Scott wrote:

FWIW I have now had my line to Skype open for two days and have received and
sent Skype and SkypeOut calls. So far there have been no intrusions from
spyware or such. I use Norton 2004 Personal Firewall and an ADSL ethernet
hub router that uses a firewall and NAT.

I'll report any problems if they occur.

AFAIK, there have been no reports of spyware issues with Skype, its more
down to my personal preference (paranoia ;-) ). All the info I can find
on the web is about what Skype *might* do, rather than what it is
currently doing.


One thing strikes me. Skype encrypts data to create a virtual private end to
end line. Does this mean that calls are more difficult/impossible to
intercept?

I believe this is the case, yes. My computing knowledge is focussed on
industrial systems so VoIP is a whole new learning curve.


Peter Scott



Cheers,

Chris

--
Cut along the dotted line to reply

In message , Chris
writes
Peter Scott wrote:

FWIW I have now had my line to Skype open for two days and have received and
sent Skype and SkypeOut calls. So far there have been no intrusions from
spyware or such. I use Norton 2004 Personal Firewall and an ADSL ethernet
hub router that uses a firewall and NAT.
I'll report any problems if they occur.

AFAIK, there have been no reports of spyware issues with Skype, its
more down to my personal preference (paranoia ;-) ). All the info I can
find on the web is about what Skype *might* do, rather than what it is
currently doing.

I'd held off installing Skype for the same reasons, but have now bitten
the bullet installed Skype and got the Firebox phone (thanks Mr Rumm),
it all seems to work pretty straight forwardly; I've installed it on a
testbed PC though, just to salve my paranoia. Might stick an Ethereal
monitor on as well as I've (obviously) had to give it a hole in the
Firewall.

Any recommended web sites for the Skype paranoid?

So now I wonder how long before the scammers and spammers catch onto
VOIP, and I start getting 8,000 calls a day telling me THAT I'VE WON AN
XYZ!!!!!

--
bof at bof dot me dot uk

In article ,
bof writes:
Any recommended web sites for the Skype paranoid?

Sufficient `well-known USonian universities' ban it (i.e., 1) that I don't
need any more telling.

So now I wonder how long before the scammers and spammers catch onto
VOIP, and I start getting 8,000 calls a day telling me THAT I'VE WON AN
XYZ!!!!!

Hmm. VOIP call-screening and spam-filtering. Yuk.
--
SAm.

bof wrote:

Any recommended web sites for the Skype paranoid?

Here are a couple:

http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?si...tid=185&tid=95

http://apple.weblogsinc.com/entry/7391864753130518/

I'll leave it to others who know a lot more about VoIP than I do to as
to whether these concerns are valid or not.

If anything new comes up, it'll probably appear at www.slashdot.com or
www.theregister.co.uk

Cheers,

Chris


--
Cut along the dotted line to reply

Chris wrote:

Sounds like a good plan. Personally I'm a bit reluctant (perhaps
needlessly) to use Skype due to the issues with Kazaa and spyware.

Yup same here...

However, I installed it, did a full spyware scan etc and came up with
nothing so far. So in that respect it is in a way different league to
Kazaa.

So it is either clear, or very sneaky!


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
Chris wrote:

Sounds like a good plan. Personally I'm a bit reluctant (perhaps
needlessly) to use Skype due to the issues with Kazaa and spyware.


Yup same here...

However, I installed it, did a full spyware scan etc and came up with
nothing so far. So in that respect it is in a way different league to
Kazaa.

So it is either clear, or very sneaky!


AIUI, it is clear at the moment. Dependant upon how paranoid you are,
the licence agreement does / does not allow the possibility of spyware
in the future.

Cheers,

Chris

--
Cut along the dotted line to reply

"bof" wrote in message
...
In message , Chris
writes


So now I wonder how long before the scammers and spammers catch onto
VOIP, and I start getting 8,000 calls a day telling me THAT I'VE WON AN
XYZ!!!!!

The big difference is that we have control over blocking don't we?

As for firewalls etc. I'm probably showing my profound ignorance but I did
not do anything to my firewall(s) and Skype works OK.

The sound quality Skype to Skype is wonderful. Full frequency range. Like
getting around to cleaning the windows!

Peter Scott

"Peter Scott" wrote in message
...
Hope people feel this is appropriate to this NG. We're all in it to get
something better for less money.

A good background article about VoIP he

http://www.itproportal.com/ACA288844...ecialreportvie
w.asp

Covers use in business and the question of security that I raised later in
this thread.

I subscribe to ITPortal. I think that anyone can read it, but apologise if
you find that the address doesn't work.

Peter Scott