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Skype No Longer Willing To Claim That Its Calls Are Untappable By Law Enforcement
from the well-now... dept
For years, we've noted that various governments have sought to be able to wiretap Skype -- and the company has always insisted that its peer-to-peer architecture made it impossible. Last year, however, some hackers suggested that there was now a backdoor in Skype. And now when a reporter for Slate, Ryan Gallagher, is pushing the company on this issue, it refuses to make a clear statement onto the ability to wiretap Skype calls. You can draw your own conclusions.
It is, of course, possible that this is just the tighter-lipped way of Microsoft, now that the software giant owns Skype, but it certainly is raising questions for those who believed that Skype was a safe way to hold conversations away from the ears of increasingly intrusive government surveillance. It seems like there's new incentive for others to work on truly secure voice communications.
It is, of course, possible that this is just the tighter-lipped way of Microsoft, now that the software giant owns Skype, but it certainly is raising questions for those who believed that Skype was a safe way to hold conversations away from the ears of increasingly intrusive government surveillance. It seems like there's new incentive for others to work on truly secure voice communications.
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Alternatives?
I've heard good things about Asterisk VOIP software, but I don't know much about it...
Been casually keeping an eye out for secure communication tools over the years, that's about the best I can come up with. Any other ideas?
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Re: Alternatives?
I can inform you on this point.
First of all, Asterisk is not a VoIP client. Asterisk is a software implementation of a PBX. Put simply, what it does is receive calls (usually VoIP calls, though, with the appropriate hardware, you could also handle calls from the telephone network) and forward them to an appropriate destination.
For example, you could implement an asterisk dialplan (a funny work for "script") where, when callers dial in, they are greeted with a voice prompt that says "Press 1 to go to Tech Support, Press 2 to go to sales..." (you get the picture).
And then, when they, for example, press 1, they are sent to a queue (where they get to listen to loud music and voice prompts that reassure them that "your call is important to us"), until they are eventually picked up by a human. Call proceeds normally from then on. This is just a simple example. The call manipulation possibilities Asterisk offers are virtually endless.
I, personally, have some experience with it, having used it at work to implement a call center for a small operation - a painful experience, mind you, but a rewarding one, since I knew next to nothing in regards to VoIP.
In my experience, I've learned that documentation is scarce, and configuration is somewhat painful. The way some of its features are implemented sometimes seem archaic and not at all flexible, making you have to jump through hoops to do something that should have been simple. But it is light on resources and gets the job done rather well after it is up and running.
Asterisk has a bunch of interesting features for call centers and telephone networks in general, but I doubt end-users would be interested. Unless you want to build a VoIP network of some sort from the ground up to replace Skype's network, Asterisk is not for you. And even if you are, there is probably software out there that is better suited for such things.
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Re: Alternatives?
http://www.voipsupply.com/blog/free-sip-softphone-roundup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft phone
Just pay attention to the "encryption"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Real-time_Transport_Protocol
And how the keys are negotiated, if it depends on third parties that can be tapped and bugged, if you have to give the key to someone personally that is the secure option.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZRTP
The ways that don't need "trusted third parties" to manage keys are the best bets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_VoIP_software
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ IP_Phone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_SIP_software
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Re: Re: Alternatives?
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/secure_voip_calling_free_software_right_to _privacy
39 free softphones from 2009.
http://www.venturevoip.com/news.php?rssid=2188
Yay!
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Re: Re: Alternatives?
Another link.
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Re:
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Conspiracy
\paranoiddelusions
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Re: Conspiracy
\NotThatParanoid
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Re: Conspiracy
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Re: Re: Conspiracy
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Re: Re: Conspiracy
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But I've said this before: if you believe there's privacy when you're using these programs, Microsoft isn't the one to blame.
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Re:
Then it takes these people and tosses them into criminal training (I'm sorry, I mean prison). This way they can all get together and learn from each other.
As an added measure they put a little check in the box next to "felon" in their record to make sure once they are out of school (prison) they are not able to get a real job anymore.
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Now build the Ironic Mustache Twitter Interface to appreciate those words.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Ironic-Mustache-Twitter-Interface/
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and BAM!
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One or the other. "Eschelon" or whatever they are now calling it needs to be killed, it's just a way to harass people who dare to speak out against government policies.
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There's only one way to have secure communication.
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Re:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitsi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linphone
Please note that capable doesn't mean it will always use that, in a world of many protocols people tend to make things to work with the most number of other protocols which can be a problem if you want to track the security of the communications because you can't see easily which protocol is being used.
Now if you come to the darkside you can have even more choices. Linux rule the secure softphone market.
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Is GNU Free Call still in development, or did the project die off?
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Skype calls recorded
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http://mumble.sourceforge.net/
it also is easy to adjust on a per client basis for bandwidth, even people on dialup can use it without issues :)
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Re:
http://mumble.sourceforge.net/FAQ#Is_Mumble_encrypted.3F
The TLS part is what makes it vulnerable to snooping.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security
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Skype has been bought off n sold out
OoVoO & Mumble FTW
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http://buyserviceonline.blogspot.com
http://buyserviceonline.blogspot.com/2013/02/best-skype-alternatives-to-make-free.html
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