[ale] Cable modem recommendation

Fri Apr 20 13:17:45 EDT 2012

Aren't most voip calls encrypted by default?  I thought that's why MS 
had to patent a way to get into the middle of it.

Ron

On 4/20/2012 9:35 AM, Chesser.Damon wrote:
>
> Well, and let’s be clear here, if you are using VOIP you ARE being 
> monitored. Or at least you could be. Just like your emails can be read 
> by every switch it passes through. If you don’t use encryption 
> (ignoring conspiracies) your transmission can be intercepted and 
> re-assembled and the voice packets can be plainly heard. Just the 
> nature of VOIP and SIP.
>
> Damon at damtek.com
>
> *From:* ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] *On Behalf Of 
> *Lightner, Jeff
> *Sent:* Friday, April 20, 2012 9:23 AM
> *To:* Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
> *Subject:* Re: [ale] Cable modem recommendation
>
> If you think ALL your calls aren’t subject to being monitored you’re 
> living in a dream world.   It used to disgust me when I worked for a 
> cell phone company how often I saw government regulations that 
> essentially required back doors into all innovations made.   Don’t 
> forget that W and his Republican cronies began illegally getting data 
> from all the major phone companies in the name of counter-terrorism 
> for ALL calls in America not just those from “suspected terrorists” 
> and the Democrats who did much hand-wringing about how evil this 
> practice was actually legalized it retro-actively after they took 
> congress back.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] *On Behalf Of 
> *Michael Campbell
> *Sent:* Friday, April 20, 2012 8:18 AM
> *To:* Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
> *Subject:* Re: [ale] Cable modem recommendation
>
> On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 4:37 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) 
> <atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com 
> <mailto:atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com>> wrote:
>
> On 4/19/2012 8:17 AM, Michael Campbell wrote:
>
>
> A colleague of mine uses Ooma and raves about it.
>
> I use Skype dial-out (I can dial regular #'s with it), and it works 
> well enough for me.   I'm on business in Belgium right now, and I use 
> it to call my home phone in Atlanta on the anemic hotel wifi, and it 
> works very well with voice.  It also works moderately well with video 
> on a Skype-Skype call to home also.
>
> I don't have a Jihad against Microsoft, so I'll continue to use Skype 
> until a better valued option comes up, or it starts to suck.  So far 
> neither have happened.
>
> I haven't tried Google Voice from my computer to regular # yet, but I 
> might try that in the next couple days.
>
>
> Hi Michael and all,
>
> I use both Microsoft and Linux products routinely, and don't have an 
> axe to grind for or against either.  However, I thought I'd mention 
> this regarding Skype.  Microsoft filed for a patent back in 2009 and 
> it was recently published regarding allowing the covert "wiretapping" 
> (my words) of VOIP calls.  Now that they've bought Skype, I think you 
> have to assume that your Skype call could be monitored and recorded.  
> Now, it's supposed to be only legally authorized wiretapping, and I 
> understand that law enforcement sometimes has a need for that.  
> However, it used to be only the highly regulated telco that had access 
> to wiretap your calls.  Now, it's a less regulated (I would say) mega 
> corporation that's routing the call, and one that's not intrinsically 
> in the phone business.  I think that, if I needed VOIP for anything 
> remotely sensitive, and if I had an alternative that I could encrypt, 
> I'd avoid using Skype.  I don't know precisely what that alternative 
> is though.  Just my 2 cents.
>
> Security concerns noted and appreciated.  While I understand where 
> you're coming from, (and each user is different), I don't use Skype 
> for sensitive comms.   Mainly business stuff between colleagues (and 
> Skype is the standard where I work, so I more or less have to use it 
> for that), and talks to my family about dull family stuff when I'm 
> away from the house.
>
> Given that Skype's data goes through a (large?) number of different 
> routers, networks, and such before and after it hits Skype's/MS' 
> servers, worrying about MS specifically recording my calls is actually 
> the least of any worries I'd have (if I had any to begin with).
>
> In short, I'm less concerned about THAT attack vector on my calling 
> since I believe there are so many other easier ones*.  And the NSA has 
>  all my data already.
>
> * One that does give me slight pause is now MS owns the proprietary 
> protocol specs for Skype.  If I understand correctly, one of Skype's 
> security features was that it has not yet been reverse engineered very 
> well (or at all?).  Perhaps that's wrong; I haven't really kept up 
> with the progress along those lines.
>
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-- 

(To whom it may concern.  My email address has changed.  Replying to former
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