PGP Creator's Zfone Encrypts VoIP

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Tuesday March 14, 2006 @01:12PM from the so-stupid-easy-i-can-use-it dept.

Philip Zimmermann, creator of PGP wrote in to tell me about Zfone, his new system for encrypting any SIP VoIP voice stream. His first release is Mac & Linux only. I tested it with him using Gizmo as our client and it was pretty trivial to use. While it should work on most any SIP compatible VoIP client, he hopes that clients like OpenWengo and Gizmo will incorporate Zfone directly into the UI. Zfone has no centralization, and has been submitted to the IETF. He hasn't yet determined a license, but he believes strongly in releasing source code for all encryption products. A windows client is forthcoming.

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Re:Releasing the source by HolyCrapSCOsux · 2006-03-14 13:39 · Score: 5, Insightful

Wouldn't that kinda be the point?

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Re:Why not encrypt by default by Noksagt · 2006-03-14 14:07 · Score: 5, Insightful
- Technological
  - Encryption implementation isn't free.
  - Encryption maintenance isn't free.
  - Unencrypted traffic is easier to sniff (which may be legitimately important).
  - Encrypyed traffic has a higher CPU overhead (which isn't always made up for).
  - Some people prefer to have one really good encryption program (SSH or a VPN) to route all traffic over.
- Legal
  - Encryption can't always be exported from every country to every other country.
  - Sometimes it may be illegal to encrypt traffic.