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
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 believe this is the case, yes. My computing knowledge is focussed on industrial systems so VoIP is a whole new learning curve.
Cheers,
Chris
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!!!!!
Sufficient `well-known USonian universities' ban it (i.e., >1) that I don't need any more telling.
Hmm. VOIP call-screening and spam-filtering. Yuk.
Here are a couple:
If anything new comes up, it'll probably appear at
Cheers,
Chris
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
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
A good background article about VoIP here:
I subscribe to ITPortal. I think that anyone can read it, but apologise if you find that the address doesn't work.
Peter Scott
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