kyramilan
join:2006-11-26
Pensacola, FL | Hmmmm
I guess Skype, which was an idea for me, is not getting on my computers. |
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jgkolt
Premium
join:2004-02-21
Lakewood, OH
clubs:
| Actually it is on my computer and works fairly well. I am very happy with the call quality and the price(free for now, and free pc to pc). This software has let numerous friends chat overseas with their families for free as well as them while they are overseas. The fact i didn't have problems with my firewall and the very low bandwidth used(especially the active compression on the call) makes it ideal.
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shamrin
join:2001-01-08
Lexington, KY
clubs: | reply to kyramilan
If you're worried about Skype, maybe it would be better not to turn your computer on at all.
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I have no opinion, therefore I do not exist |
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Michieru2
zzz zzz zzz
Premium
join:2005-01-28
Miami, FL
| .
I am not surprised, after all some ISP's don't want you calling through VOIP. From what I heard they are doing it in Europe and other countries in Asia as well.
Skype wants people across the globe to use there services and by that this is there way at fighting back at those who choose to block them. It's not just to make it easy to setup and run without having to be some firewall wizz, it's also about bypassing access. |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
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| said by Michieru2  : It's not just to make it easy to setup and run without having to be some firewall wizz, it's also about bypassing access. And if you are running a business, you don't want your employees bypassing firewalls, for security reasons, and other reasons too. Later, we will read where Skype wonders why the business world shuns their product. Well, this is why - encouraging users to bypass legitimate firewalls.
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sackem for using
@sbcglobal.net
| Sack 'em!
You will see more and more organizations that will have immediate termination clauses in employment contracts for using Skype on their corporate networks. I know we are considering it. Enforcement is not as hard as some might think.
When you have big clients who made you sign huge non-disclosure and data protection clauses in their contract, sacking someone for Skype is a cheap solution (when compared to possible leak of data and loss of business).
BTW, you can lock down systems all you want, when you have an office full of developers, there is always a way for them to make it work. So termination on the spot is the best solution. |
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kyramilan
join:2006-11-26
Pensacola, FL
| reply to TKJunkMail
Re: .
said by TKJunkMail :said by Michieru2 : It's not just to make it easy to setup and run without having to be some firewall wizz, it's also about bypassing access. And if you are running a business, you don't want your employees bypassing firewalls, for security reasons, and other reasons too. Later, we will read where Skype wonders why the business world shuns their product. Well, this is why - encouraging users to bypass legitimate firewalls. Our company is putting in a policy on Jan. 1st that if you use Skype, look for another job. They don't care about using email, MySpace, or even IMs but Skype (they don't allow any VOIP), porn and P2P (Torrents) will get you fired. |
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AirGig
join:1999-11-21
New York, NY
| reply to sackem for using
Re: Sack 'em!
Wow, are your fellow employee's talents that generic and disposable!!? If they are, as your willingness to fire them indicates, what exactly is the uniqueness and value add that your company provides that someone else couldn't, it seems, so easily duplicate and put you out of a job?
Every business has particular needs specific to their size, operations and budget. An IT department's sole purpose is to find a way to implement money saving or revenue enhancing technologies. Smaller companies, without the means to implement and manage their own VOIP system, have rightfully recognized the many efficiency and economic benefits of using Skype to foster their communications, particularly internationally.
IT personnel, in companies of all sizes, should be asking themselves why aren't I implementing Skype or a similiar technology! (Skype provides a huge headstart because it has matured into a "platform" for which many independent developers are writing add-ons that further expand Skype's functionality and wide span of features.)
Skype uses a technique to support it's communication through firewalls. So what! (and thankfully, because who wants to maintain rules for VOIP - PITA!). Where is it definitively proven that it creates an exploitable, not just theoritical, vunlerability?
Meanwhile, Skype users enjoy the FREE use, savings, efficiencies, productivity gains and collaboration benefits, and be sure to check out all the other unique and innovative Skype Add-Ons for even more enhancement!
I have no ties, except as a user, to Skype or Yahoo. |
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Irenic
join:2000-05-02
Montreal, QC
1 edit |  Skype rocks!
Skype has many uses and is very popular because unlike SIP-based software or Netmeeting or whatever it just works.
It's up to employers and employees to determine what may or may not be done on the job. Banning Skype outside private businesses by ISPs is done for two reasons:
1) Fear of losing revenue.
2) Fear of being unable to supress free communication.
Skype does a wonderful job and one can hardly fault it because some people don't like the freedom it gives us to communicate cheaply and effectively. |
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kyramilan
join:2006-11-26
Pensacola, FL
| reply to AirGig
Re: Sack 'em!
said by AirGig :Smaller companies, without the means to implement and manage their own VOIP system, have rightfully recognized the many efficiency and economic benefits of using Skype to foster their communications, particularly internationally. I find small "businesses" that rely on Vonage, Sunrocket, Packet 8, any Net VOIP etc. for their communications to be quite humorous. That is like running a million dollar company on a Website hosted on a $10 a month plan. In fact, after hanging up, I usually laugh at them. It is funny they will pay us a fortune for our services but don't want real phone service. And, they boast about it: "I've got 3 VOIP providers," one said, "Just in case one goes down." ROFLMAO! |
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matrix3D
join:2006-09-27
Deep River, CT
1 edit | reply to kyramilan
Re: .
That leads me to believe your company monitors its employees phone calls, which may or may not be legal. I mean look at the list of stuff you say they "allow" and stuff they don't. Porn and P2P is a quite obvious no-no at work, but MySpace? IM? All the stuff that's easy to monitor they allow. |
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John T
@verizon.net
| reply to Irenic
Re: Skype rocks!
Of course, there's always
3) Fear of using a closed-source, non-open standard product which turns nodes into supernodes (without saying so) and has essentially no security (Skype keeps all keys, the clients implicitly trust anything over the Skype protocol.)
There are lots of scary things about Skype from a security perspective. |
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stufried
Premium
join:2003-10-13 | reply to sackem for using
Re: Sack 'em!
I have a zero tolerance for people who support zero tolerance policies. |
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44402812
Hack The Planet
Premium
join:2006-08-28
Plattsburgh, NY
| reply to sackem for using
said by sackem for using :
You will see more and more organizations that will have immediate termination clauses in employment contracts for using Skype on their corporate networks. I know we are considering it. Enforcement is not as hard as some might think.
When you have big clients who made you sign huge non-disclosure and data protection clauses in their contract, sacking someone for Skype is a cheap solution (when compared to possible leak of data and loss of business).
BTW, you can lock down systems all you want, when you have an office full of developers, there is always a way for them to make it work. So termination on the spot is the best solution.
Hello they could just as easily pick up a phone, save notes to a thumb drive, send an encrypted email, etc. Skype unfortunately is becoming the scape goat for unreliable workers who a morons! |
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Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
| reply to shamrin
Re: Hmmmm
"If you're worried about Skype, maybe it would be better not to turn your computer on at all."
What you seem to fail to understand is that this behavior on the part of skype is malware/exploit like. It would probably be no great trick to modify the client to plant malware on your computer right through your filewall.
And dont think malware authors and scum wont try now that they have been given the idea. |
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Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
| reply to matrix3D
Re: .
"That leads me to believe your company monitors its employees phone calls, which may or may not be legal"
It's well established: It's their phone system and if they choose to monitor you, tough nuts. Why do you think that you get that warning about your calls may be monitored for "training purposes" whenever you call a major corporation? Why do you think CS reps just sit and spout the corporate line? Because they are being monitored and they know it. All your employer has to do is let it be known they are monitoring you, just like they do on the computer that THEY own, on the network THEY own.
Bottom line is that if you want privacy, use your own cellphone or computer, not the companies. |
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Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
| reply to Irenic
Re: Skype rocks!
Yes, and the freedom it will give malware to screw us up in the future. You CAN fault it because people have firewalls up for a reason and things that you put on your computer are not supposed to just bypass it on a whim or, with a sneak trick. Sneak behavior is, quite simply, Malware/virus/exploit behavior.
Lets see what you all have to say further down the line when this behavior is being used for malware. Then you wont be so complacent. |
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yzor
Premium
join:2003-01-03
Jacksonville, FL | can you not block all out going UDP packets and stop Skype? |
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jgkolt
Premium
join:2004-02-21
Lakewood, OH
clubs:
| firing
Shouldnt you hire people who are self motivated and don't need to be watched ove rliek a little kid to see if they are running skype? The fact that the address book is peer to peer hurts them on a firewall perspective but besides that i think skype is a great product that should be encouraged. |
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Fatal Vector
join:2005-11-26
| reply to yzor
Re: Skype rocks!
"can you not block all out going UDP packets and stop Skype?"
Yes, you can (usually, in a decent firewall. Thing is you have to modify the rules to do it). But Joe and Jane box of rocks doesn't know that. They are more likely to click on a OK box than anything else. |
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