# Skype with (s)care



## Anonymous (May 14, 2013)

I guess, many of you might be interested:

Skype with care â€“ Microsoft is reading everything you write


----------



## srobert (May 14, 2013)

Hello Microsoft.

I'm going to get off Skype, and show these people what you don't want them to see, a world without you, a world with source codes and sharing where everything is possible...


----------



## drhowarddrfine (May 14, 2013)

Chat and video is enabled and free in Google+.


----------



## pkubaj (May 14, 2013)

drhowarddrfine said:
			
		

> Chat and video is enabled and free in Google+



Does it work with FreeBSD?


----------



## kpa (May 14, 2013)

Nothing new in there, Skype has been a centralized system that sends your messages and voice unencrypted over the net for everyone to spy on right from the beginning.


----------



## chatwizrd (May 14, 2013)

Glad I have never used Skype before.


----------



## jrm@ (May 14, 2013)

pkubaj said:
			
		

> Does it work with FreeBSD?



No, you need the Google voice and video plugin.


----------



## zspider (May 14, 2013)

This is why I chose to switch to RetroShare when MSN finally passed on. So far it's working pretty good.


----------



## sossego (May 14, 2013)

Look in /usr/ports/net-im and skype is there.

Ekiga is an alternative. 

I had Skype installed a few times and it crapped out pretty fast.


----------



## Crivens (May 15, 2013)

Don't get into any illusions about your communication being read. It simply is. And it is most likely stored for later. The question is only who is doing the reading, and Microsoft was nice enough to tell you in a roundabout way. Not that they are the only ones with a tab on the wire...


----------



## cpm@ (May 18, 2013)

Is quite dense... but definitely a good analysis.

More about Skype backdoor:


> So when I saw this article
> 
> http://www.h-online.com/security/ne...-is-reading-everything-you-write-1862870.html
> 
> I was disappointed the rumoured skype backdoor is claimed to be real, and that they have evidence. The method by which they confirmed is kind of odd - not only is skype eavesdropping but its doing head requests on SSL sites that have urls pasted in the skype chat!



http://lists.randombit.net/pipermail/cryptography/2013-May/004224.html.


----------



## hitest (May 19, 2013)

I always assume that some type of spook is monitoring what I do online and act accordingly.


----------



## sossego (May 19, 2013)

Why not just break up communication to where it is spread across layers and applications?

Or

Having all of your eggs in one basket is a catastrophe waiting to happen.


----------



## freesbies (May 19, 2013)

Google+ rocks guys !


----------



## ShelLuser (May 19, 2013)

When it comes to privacy I personally hold Microsoft in higher esteem than Google, and that's not because my company ('my' as in 'mine'; I don't merely work here) is also a Microsoft reseller. If you check the policies on some of the Microsoft websites (TechNet, MSDN but maybe even better: CodePlex) then I think you may end up surprised. They're not merely make (false?) promises; they even commit to some of it.

Basically; if you can catch Google of violating their policies then you got them. From my own impressions of the Microsoft policies (for what's it worth) I think you can sue the heck out of them if you catch them violating their own promises.

Even so; I think dumping MSN is one of the most stupid things they've done in quite a while. Especially if you take into consideration that they haven't really dumped it; my Windows Phone can connect to what was known as MSN pretty easily; just too bad there's hardly a usable client available for PC usage.

As for Skype; no thanks. I hate that stuff with a passion. Let's just say that I'm not quite into stuff which welcomes me into their "brave new world" with many suggestions that I should consider purchasing "Skype credits". Not to mention their (in my personal opinion): sick approach of devoting half of the profile page to try and persuade people to buy into a Skype subscription. And people at some time called MSN intrusive!

It saddens me, but this week I removed both MSN Messenger as well as Skype from my PC as well as my girlfriend's PC and right now I'm somewhat keeping an eye open for possible replacements.

To me this is just one of the many examples which proves that Microsoft really has no clue, _what so ever_, as to what is going on in the market today. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if many Skype users would dump it because it's now being run by Microsoft. And on the other hand we have many "Microsoft users" (meaning MSN messenger) who wouldn't even touch Skype with a pole because they simply dislike it with a passion.

That's 2 strikes in my book, but I guess some Microsoft official has a perfect explanation why this is a huge win for Microsoft. Just too bad that the people who should be using it are basically running away; but that's probably because "they don't understand it" just yet. The same reason why, according to Microsoft in the beginning, Windows 8 didn't take off.

Pardon the rant-bordering post. I sort of feel strongly about all this, especially because in my opinion they started out so good. And it only went down-hill ever since.


----------



## Anonymous (Jun 11, 2013)

Does anyone know a cheap IP telephone service hosted in continental Europe?

At the moment, I am using a Skype flatrate for my calls from Brazil to Germany. I want to reduce using US/UK-hosted services as much as possible.


----------



## jrm@ (Jun 13, 2013)

rolfheinrich said:
			
		

> Does anyone know a cheap IP telephone service hosted in continental Europe?



I have no personal experience with them, but perhaps UPC would work for you.


----------



## rusty (Jun 13, 2013)

Anyone tried WebRTC via Firefox or Chrome/Chromium?


----------



## throAU (Jun 18, 2013)

drhowarddrfine said:
			
		

> Chat and video is enabled and free in Google+.



Are we assuming that Google don't do exactly the same thing now?


----------



## throAU (Jun 18, 2013)

sossego said:
			
		

> Why not just break up communication to where it is spread across layers and applications?
> 
> Or
> 
> Having all of your eggs in one basket is a catastrophe waiting to happen.



Because the data mining used by the NSA aggregates it all anyway.

Use encryption. Strong encryption. Or even better, don't distribute sensitive information via the internet.

And yeah, I trust Microsoft further than Google.  Not that I trust them - but at least their entire business model is not based on targeting advertising at me, data mining me and essentially selling my eyeballs/whereabouts/habits to the highest bidder. At least with Microsoft I have paid money for the product I am using up front.  Ditto for Apple.

In other news, the Skype client is obfuscated, closed source code that opens up holes in your firewall via various methods to communicate via an encrypted, obfuscated protocol - and if possible will set itself up as a supernode on your network without your explicit consent.

Anyone who cares at all about their network's security will be hunting down and banning any Skype installations they can find.


----------



## NuLL3rr0r (Jun 18, 2013)

rolfheinrich said:
			
		

> Does anyone know a cheap IP telephone service hosted in continental Europe?
> 
> At the moment, I am using a Skype flatrate for my calls from Brazil to Germany. I want to reduce using US/UK-hosted services as much as possible.



Why not trying Viber? It's completely free.


----------



## NuLL3rr0r (Jun 18, 2013)

The evil Google and Facebook know more than even my family members and close friends about me.

Privacy died within few past years for most of us, unfortunately. I believe Microsoft is way behind both Google and Facebook in spying on us.


----------



## Anonymous (Jun 18, 2013)

NuLL3rr0r said:
			
		

> Why not trying Viber? It's completely free.



This seems to be a good replacement of Skype to Skype communication. However, I am looking for a replacement of the Skype from Brazil to PSTN in Germany service.


----------



## throAU (Jun 19, 2013)

As with Google, Facebook, Hotmail, etc. If the service is free, YOU are the product.


----------



## jozze (Jun 20, 2013)

Me and my girlfriend have video chats quite often, I've been trying to convince her to make a switch, and now she finally gave in (YES! :e). Do you guys know any alternatives to Skype in that respect? I don't want to use Google hangouts or some other tool that cannot be installed since it's on the Internet). Just a simple, and if possible lightweight tool (net/ekiga isn't lightweight) that could do that. Does it have to be connected to Jabber?


----------



## cpm@ (Jun 21, 2013)

Bruce Schneier - New Details on Skype Eavesdropping.


----------



## Crivens (Jun 21, 2013)

This link just got my attention. Seems worth a look I think.


----------



## jozze (Jun 21, 2013)

I think what's most controversial, is that foreign countries, which shouldn't have any jurisdiction in other countries, have the power to spy on you. IMO this is an instrument of global repression soon to come.

@Crivens, great link! Thank you very much !


----------



## MorgothV8 (Jun 21, 2013)

I have just written a program (over a year ago) which allows speaking/voice (no video) using plain server-client architecture. Just in plain C. Reading/writing to/from /dev/dsp (with some ioctl to set Hz, bits etc), next use sppex or vorbis to encode/decode this sound. I would only need to add encryption (which is really simple) to have it 99% secure.

This is the simplest program imagined - no single line of GUI.

Start server as `./cvoice -d` (becomes daemon), next call it from client - no ringing, voice transfer just starts. I've written this because Skype had no option to configure voice parameters - while I could lower it to 8 bit, mono, 6500 Hz + Speex compressions which gives 400-500 BPS bps and allowed me to talk with wife from Spitsbergen while Skype had not enough bandwidth to make a call.


----------



## jozze (Jun 21, 2013)

Could you share some of that code?


----------



## MorgothV8 (Jun 21, 2013)

Sure, this is all that worked on Spitsbergen (I'm not sure if this is _the_ final version - I'm posting from _a_ Mac - ZIP from all folders - possible binary files inside): http://www.sendspace.com/file/vu7y0v


----------

