AW: [governance] Re: FW: [OIA] MS & Skype?

["Kleinwächter, Wolfgang"]

Thanks Stephane
1+ and full support. 
 
w

 
________________________________

Von: governance at lists.cpsr.org im Auftrag von Stephane Bortzmeyer
Gesendet: Di 10.05.2011 21:55
An: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Michael Gurstein
Betreff: [governance] Re: FW: [OIA] MS & Skype?



On Tue, May 10, 2011 at 07:49:24AM -0700,
 Michael Gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com> wrote
 a message of 51 lines which said:

> I'm not exactly sure how/where this should be covered in IG
> discussions but even from a purely self-interested CS perspective
> there is an absolute need to begin to work towards some sort of
> global institutional/regulatory framework to ensure the preservation
> of a public interest in a global virtual public space and public
> capacity for very low cost IP enabled international communications
> (a la skype).

I fail to see why the fate of the private company Skype, which
produces a closed software using undocumented proprietary protocols
could be a subject for CS.

I agree that "preservation of a public interest in a global virtual
public space" and "very low cost IP enabled international
communications" are good goals. But Skype is the very counter-example
of what we should aim for. Specially, the fact that the source code is
hidden from its users is there to hide shameful practices such as
enrolling users as "supernodes" without asking their advice or even
informing them (see
<http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t727931-skype-fixed-supernodes-list.html>
and the list in
<http://cryptolib.com/ciphers/skype/skype_servers.txt>).

So, if CS is interested in "preservation of a public interest in a
global virtual public space", it should push the use of open protocols
for instant messaging and voice over Internet (XMPP and SIP), not to
encourage closed software.

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