On 3/22/2013 2:11 PM, Derek Trotter wrote:
On 03/15/2013 10:08 PM, Michael Butash wrote:
I won't use skype for the same reason. I'd held off for x years
they've existed, and was going to make one finally as a client used
it for official and non im, but soon as microsoft bought them, I
wrote them off.
Microsoft will not say no if the government tells them to (antitrust,
anyone?). Blackberry did this in india actually making the news
forced to give up access to a foreign government, but no news here as
they already do. They'll have your cell or wired isp give up raw
bitstreams of your traffic with or without a subpoena if they're that
interested.
I was reminded of this when I read an article today in The Register
about Canonical working with the Chinese government to produce a
version of ubuntu customized for China.
From
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/22/china_makes_linux_os_with_canonical_help/
Because the software is open source it's unlikely that any backdoors
could be added into the Ubuntu OS without the global Linux community
taking notice.
This contrasts with Skype, which is available in a Chinese-flavour
that spies on its users and logs information about them talking or
making phone calls about sensitive subjects to the repressive state.
The software is delivered as a partnership between local company TOM
Online and Microsoft
<http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-08/skypes-been-hijacked-in-china-and-microsoft-is-o-dot-k-dot-with-it>.
Being open source doesn't prevent an application from doing what Skype
does. Especially if you are talking to someone else's server. I use
Apache for my stuff, no user coming to a site I build has any idea what
Apache is doing with the request they are making. I could very easily
make the server report to the FBI for any connection to "questionable"
material and no one would be the wiser. Same thing with any software
that needs an intermediary to work (IM, web browsing, email, etc...).
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