Re: Skype access cancelled for Debian versions before 7
On 03/08/2014, Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglashan@affinityvision.com.au> wrote:
> On 3/08/2014 9:21 AM, Joel Rees wrote:
>>> On 03/08/2014, Andrew McGlashan <andrew.mcglashan@affinityvision.com.au>
>>> wrote:
<snip>
> If you have a smart phone, chances are it is Android (Google owned IP
> and control) or iOS (Apple owned IP and control). Even if you have a
> Linux based phone (other than Android), then you still have the issues
> of components above the OS to consider. Sure you could use Cyanogen
> Mod, but that is still based on Android ... just less Google.
>
<snip>
I do not have a smart phone - I have an "Oldies Phone" - an unblocked
Telstra EasyCall, with decent sized buttons, made in Taiwan, or some
other Asian country, so that I mostly press the correct button,
instead of trying to answer an incoming call and instead turning on an
unwanted camera, and, for telephone use, not camera/radio/GPS/phaser
and all of the other non telephone stuff.
> Further on trust, given what we know now about BadUSB and all the stuff
> in the NSA /store/ ... you can't even trust any hardware!
>
> In terms of hardware, I don't want any fingerprint readers, nor do I
> want any other unwanted spying /tools/ to be available to the spooks.
> Anything with Intel inside is also suspect for similar reasons to the
> issues with Microsoft / Google / Apple being based in the US. The
> mobile I want today is the OnePlus One ... Chinese made, can we trust
> them? It's a very, very sorry state of affairs when you realize that
> you cannot trust any company to keep you safe and with privacy; with
> limited or no trust in hardware, ditto for software.
>
> As an Australian, in Australia (all my life), I am supposed to be /free/
> from NSA spying, but that doesn't rule out our own security agencies.
> Nor does it help if I wish to use Tor and/or other encrypting / privacy
> related technology.
>
Remember, apart from Fraser using the CIA to oust Whitlam, we have
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-14/dsd-asked-nsa-for-help-in-spying-on-australian/5453480
"
GLENN GREENWALD: Nobody disputes that there is some legitimate state
surveillance, including surveilling people where there's evidence to
believe that they're engaged in violence or terrorism or other forms
of threatening behaviour. I've been writing about this issue for many
years and I've never once encountered somebody who believes there
should be no state surveillance.
The problem is, and if you look at the letter, which we publish in
relevant parts, they're not asking for very specific individuals to be
surveilled; they're asking for a wide surveillance net to be cast over
the Australian communications system.
And so, the problem with it is that, historically, whenever you allow
government officials to engage in mass surveillance, which is what
these systems are, the abuse is virtually inevitable. I think it would
be a much different story if the letter were saying, 'Here are 35
people we're concerned about and we'd like you to help us watch them.'
But that's now what the letter was; it was asking for, more or less,
indiscriminate surveillance on Australians generally.
"
The NSA watches everyone Australian, for the Australian federal
parliament. The SS and the government(s) must know everything about
anyone, and, no doubt, the KGB and the Chinese equivalent, see all of
the classified information, so they all know who you communicate with,
what is communicated with you, and, with whom, you have relationships
of any sort, and, exactly what each relationships involve, and, how
frequently. The voyeurs do have to be able to get their jollies.
> The biggest impediment to doing video calls is the bandwidth or lack
> thereof worldwide ... in AU we have a stick government that got voted in
> thanks to the media doing a real hatchet job on the previous government.
> No government is perfect, but at least our former government was
> working towards giving us fibre to the premise, not that it would have
> solved all bandwidth issues, it would have helped greatly; the current
> government wants to give us fraudband for not much less in real cost to
> build and far greater cost to operate -- it's a political mess and we
> all [or least a great majority] suffer the consequences.
>
We have adequate bandwidth, with "ADSL2+" - as I previously said,
Skype 2.2 worked well enough for me. Whilst it was not high resolution
(I think it went up to 640x480), or, high frame rate, and,
occasionally, I would get frame dropout (?), it was generally good
enough, for me. And, I was happy, and, it was an exciting experience,
to be able to see people with who I was communicating, and, to be able
to see thir reactions to what happened in the course of a dialogue.
And, now, that has been taken away, for the sake of taking it away.
And, just out of interest, whilst the policy of the Loony Nazi Party
government, is "fibre to the exchange, copper from the exchange to the
house", I am advised that the installation of fibre to the house, is,
at this stage, still unchanged, and the copper to the house, has not
yet been imposed.
So, I believe it is not a bandwidth problem.
And, in terms of party politics, remember that the whole of the
federal parliament, agreed that Australians are not entitled to human
rights, and thence, to the protections (such as they exist elsewhere)
of a Bill of Rights.
> I'll still stay clear of Skype, I don't need it. I don't use Google
> Hangouts, but one day I might; the latter would definitely be my choice
> of the two. We need a Google Hangouts version from Duck Duck Go or
> similar. In the past I've tried Ekiga, but it was never good for me.
> Recently I've tried RedPhone, but again network issues and lack of
> bandwidth / local servers is a problem. VoIP can do video without Skype
> and there are some VoIP servers that have [at least in the past],
> managed to be a gateway to Skype users -- not sure if that was limited
> to voice, but it probably was. I'm sure there must be some other
> suitable alternative offering voice and video securely and widely.
>
>
The bottom line remains unchanged - with Skype 2.2, and it not having
the advances of the later versions of Skype, I could engage in video
calls, using Debian 6, the operating system of my choice, and, with
people using different versions of different operating systems, so
that I could see the person with whom I was communicating, and, in
motion, as we communicated (which allows for seeing changes in
expressions, due to a person's reaction to things said), and, that was
both ways, and, now, Microsoft has taken away that facility and that
functionality.
And, as I previously said, in the thread, it is pretty much the same
as the ICANN people, saying, Stuff the public, we now have IPV6
available, so, anything that involves IPv4, no longer works, because
we can, and, because we enjoy making people suffer or forcing them to
submit to our will."
It is tyranny. Like the various levels of legislatures in Australia.
"You will be assimilated, and you will obey without question.
Resistance is futile."
Simple.
--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............
"So once you do know what the question actually is,
you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
A Trilogy In Four Parts",
written by Douglas Adams,
published by Pan Books, 1992
....................................................
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