> > At IWMW 3005 last week we made use of the Skype VoIP application
>
> Can I ask what different institutions have in terms of a
> policy on Skype?
>
> We block most P2P packets at the firewall to help lower the
> risks of us receiving the dreaded letters from the film
> distributors. Since Skype is based upon Kazaa technology, our
> routers can't tell the difference between kazaa packets and
> Skype packets, so all get blocked (so I'm told).
>
> We have also found problems with Skype in that (quoting from the Skype
> website):
>
> "A true P2P system, in our opinion, is one where all nodes in
> a network join together dynamically to participate in traffic
> routing-,
> processing- and bandwidth intensive tasks that would
> otherwise be handled by central servers."
>
> What this seems to mean is that as we are on a nice fast
> JANET pipe, we get used to route calls for users not on our
> network. And having received a complaint from one of our
> network admins about the number of packets destined for
> machines foreign to our network late at night (when I was
> safely at home tucked up in bed!) when I did have Skype
> running through the firewall, I suspect this is happening.
>
> Therefore, does anyone have a policy on this, or know more
> about the network implications than I do? It seems to be a
> great tool, but if by allowing it means we are allowing Kazaa
> etc, then it's going to be a tough decision.
Hi Stuart
Good question.
I gave a talk on this in a paper on "IT Services - Help or Hindrance to
National IT Development Programmes?" at the EUNIS 2005 conference in
Manchester a few weeks ago. I used Skype as an example - VoIP applications
like this can provide many user benefits, but there are also lots of issues,
such as those you mention. I suggested that banning Skype because it allows
third parties to make use of your networking /computational resources would
also mean you should ban scren savers such as CETI which make usae of your
CPU cycles to find UFOs, find new prime numbers which can help cufre AIDS,
cancer, etc. should also be banned. I asked if anyone used the CETI screen
saver and one person in the audience (director of an IT Services department
in the UK admitted that not only did she use CETI, but she also wrote the
AUP which banned it!).
I argued that there is a need for not only an AUP but also an Acceptable
Use Policy Process (AUPP - best said in a northern accent) which recgonises
the need for such policies to change and evolve - and saying you can't use
XX because the AUP bans it isn't the right approach.
The paper and the slides are available at:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/eunis-2005/paper-2/
Note that this doesn't mean that I'm saying that applications like Skype
should be universally accepted - rather that deeper thinking is needed.
Brian
PS Speak to e-research and GRID people and you'll find that they are heavily
involved in the development of P2P applications. Banning P2P because it can
be misused is like banning word processors because they can be used to write
nasty letters - IMHO
---------------------------------------
Brian Kelly
UK Web Focus
UKOLN
University of Bath
BATH
BA2 7AY
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
Phone: 01225 383943
FOAF: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ukoln/staff/b.kelly/foaf/bkelly-foaf.xrdf
For info on FOAF see http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ukoln/staff/b.kelly/foaf/
> Thanks,
>
>
> Stuart
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