[IP] more on Realities of Skype and eBay

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Krulwich <krulwich@yahoo.com>
Date: September 13, 2005 5:46:49 AM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] Realities of Skype and eBay
Reply-To: krulwich@yahoo.com


Dave,

If people are concerned about privacy and security, why is everone  
concerned
only about big companies?  Why is Skype owned by eBay more of a  
concern than
Skype beforehand?  Analogously, why is everyone anti AIM but not  
other smaller
instant messagers that use their own protocols?

I can understand concern about big companies, and I can understand  
concerns
about privacy, but let's be honest about what we're concerned about.   
Let's
also be sure not to consider people suspect just because they're  
successful.

--Bruce



--- David Farber <dave@farber.net> wrote:


> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
> Date: September 12, 2005 7:09:45 PM EDT
> To: marcaniballi@hotmail.com, richard@shockey.us
> Cc: dave@farber.net, lauren@vortex.com
> Subject: Realities of Skype and eBay
>
>
> I am on record as stating -- most recently right here in IP -- that
> I consider proprietary VoIP systems to be unacceptable on security
> and privacy grounds.  However, given that many people *are* going to
> keep using Skype, particularly after it becomes intertwined with
> eBay, I feel that it is incumbent on us to take whatever steps are
> possible to try encourage reasonable disclosure regarding these
> commercial systems -- that *will* be widely used.
>
> The reality is that government-mandated backdoors will likely be
> implemented in all commercial VoIP systems, period.  However, at
> this stage, there are millions of people using Skype based merely on
> the "faith" that it is reasonably secure.  That's bad science across
> the board.
>
> In the real world, those of us "in the know" are not the people I'm
> most concerned about.  It's the folks who do not have technical
> backgrounds who are most dependent on us to try keep the commercial
> operations as honest as possible in a very difficult political
> environment.
>
> --Lauren--
> Lauren Weinstein
> lauren@pfir.org or lauren@vortex.com or lauren@eepi.org
> Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
> http://www.pfir.org/lauren
> Co-Founder, PFIR
>    - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
> Co-Founder, EEPI
>    - Electronic Entertainment Policy Initiative - http://www.eepi.org
> Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
> Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
> Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
> DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com
>
>
>
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