Microsoft Skype Takes Over Machines Without Users' Knowledge
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2012-07-01 15:47:34 UTC
- Modified: 2012-07-01 15:47:34 UTC
Conversations recorded by those in power
Summary: Another timely reminder of the 'aggressive' nature of Microsoft's Skype
IT is a little frustrating to see how various GNU/Linux bloggers are helping Skype, despite the newly-acquired NSA access to it, as we explained last year and this year. Microsoft is pushing automatic updates with a new EULA (waiver). In fact, there is malicious staff associated with this action:
Apparently by mistake, Microsoft's Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) last night deployed a Skype update to Windows clients that had never had the telephony and messaging software installed. This resulted in Skype being installed on these computers.
Pushing binary blobs into people's machines is not a service. It is actually a potential hazard, even if
it comes from Google. When proprietary software gets proprietary modification it is impossible to know just what is happening underneath. A lot of time it is code which harms the user. A lot of the time software stays proprietary
precisely because it harms the user; if made free, the malicious features would be stripped by users and their development-savvy peers.
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Comments
Needs Sunlight
2012-07-01 16:40:49
Also, while SIP is only a little less robust in regards to network problems, most SIP clients seem to lack the auto-redial feature that Skype has. When a bad network connection breaks a call in Skype, it automatically reconnects. With a SIP connection, the calls is dropped and the reconnection must be done manually. It's a world of difference in how the technology is perceived especially by novice users.
dyfet
2012-07-01 19:24:39