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Skype + Kazaa = ?
An anonymous reader writes "Kazaa has now embedded Skype in their v3.0 download." This isn't a surprising pairing, and it adds millions of VoIP users to the network ... the article also notes that this might bring out the spammers as well.
Here is the wikipedia entry, and here is Skype's general FAQ which will probably answer any questions you have.
General FAQ link
Any machine with a connected microphone/camera can be turned into a spying device; just make sure the user executes some malign code that records data, compresses it into mpeg4 or the like, then sends it to some other host on the Net. I'm not aware of known worms that actually perform similar actions, but they're certainly out there, and/or easy to write and propagate. Another good reason not to use insecure operating systems such as any Windows incarnation.
Also, don't forget to disconnect unused cameras and mikes on machines running different OSes too: no safe can ensure a loaded gun won't shoot; you have to remove all bullets.
Just went to visit the Kazaa site out of curiosity, to see what their hype looks like now, and strangely enough they're claiming NO SPYWARE on the front page. Their definitions of what spyware is seem to hinge on the words "personally identifiable data", hence any adware that does not return a UID does not qualify as spyware in their opinion.
... gasp... go the clean route?
Can anyone confirm that they still include loads of anonymous adware in this new version 3? Or are they trying to
on regular skype if you accept calls from everyone and list yourself in the directory random people will call you all the time
hype (the comment halfway down the page sums it up nicely.)
>Does anybody know of a IP service that allows all of these services?
http://www.vonage.com/
Pardon my cliche, but most people I know who use Kazaa wouldn't know what IRC is if it bit them on the ass. I'm at a college, and, out of all my friends here, three know IRC: a goth, a metalhead, and a linux nerd; none of them use Kazaa, and neither do I. Face it, IRC's pretty damn geeky, and I'd rate the vast majority of current Kazaa users would give a blank, bovine stare if you said, "EFNet."
BTW, is there any way to get Kazaa to not install a metric ton of adware, so I can stop yelling at people to not install it?
There used to be a Kazaa Lite version that didn't have all the crap in it but it seems hard to find these days. You could try Soulseek it's totally spyware/adware free and pretty decent.
I guess you haven't used eMule.. it uses the ED2K network and its own decentralized Kad network. No share ratios, no server hunting - the ED2K server list comes preloaded, and it discovers new servers and switches between them automatically. You can even search all servers with a single query.
The only problem with eMule is that you spend most of your time waiting in queue, especially if you don't have any parts of the file to share. A movie can take a few days to download. It works slowly, but surely.
Visual IRC: Fast. Powerful. Free.
The crypto is, in this case, mostly done right.
:0
It uses i believe a 2kbit RSA pub/priv key system to exchange the 256 bit AES key (i say believe because i might be wrong about the bit length).
I say mostly done right because I'm not sure if there is a way to exchange pub/priv keys in person or thru any other way than just adding someone to your list. This may make it possible for someone to trick you into adding the wrong person, then doing a man in the middle attack on the diffie hellman exchange. Its pretty extensive lenghts to go thru, but if the govt wants to do it because they suspect a...TERRORIST (da da daaaaa), then they would probably try it.
Skype does encryption right overall tho
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
A quote from their site:
"Advertising - delivered by Cydoor and the GAIN Network"
Cydoor and GAIN are definitely spyware.