Skype code cracked
p2p news / p2pnet: A Chinese software firm has copied eBay’s Skype, says Charlie Paglee, co-founder of VoIP start-up Vozin Communications.
As things stand, only Skype users can call other users via their PCs, but, “I received a call through Skype from a friend at a company in China, except he told me he was not using Skype to call me,” says Paglee on his blog, going on, “His company has successfully reverse engineered the Skype protocol and he wanted to call me in the United States to see how it worked between physically distant IP addresses.
“We talked for a little over nine minutes before the call dropped. Then I called him back using my Skype and we spoke for another three minutes.”
This could have a, “terrible effect on eBay should they choose to leverage their Skype client to host advertisements,” says the blog. “Now that there is the prospect of a competing client available there is little doubt that there will be an ad free alternative to Skype should advertisements on Skype appear in the future.”
Pagelee says for the moment, the Chinese version of Skype, cracked by Hanzen Corp, according to Dow Jones, only supports the placing of Skype p2p phone calls and although they haven’t yet “implemented presence, “They have plans to add presence, instant messaging, and a host of other features. Their end goal is to create a client 100% compatible with Skype. They sent me a screen shot of their software (below) and my IP address was 100% correct.”
From a legal standpoint eBay is in a hard place, contines Paglee.
“First, Skype itself is not viewed as ‘legal’ in China. Chinese regulatory authorities have even looked into ways to block Skype in various regions of China. The Chinese telecom giants are not at all pleased with Skype ’stealing’ IDD revenue from their pockets. They will enthusiastically support a domestic Chinese company with the engineering talent to reverse engineer Skype. I wouldn’t be surprised if a major Chinese telco ends up licensing this technology to produce a competing Skype client for use in China.
“What’s more, there is nothing at all illegal or even morally wrong with what this group of engineers has accomplished, especially from the Chinese perspective. They reverse engineered a protocol that was not protected by patent. They will be seen as heroes in China and it is unlikely the government will ever take action against them.”
He goes in that Skype has been playing dodge ball with the law all over the world in an effort to arbitrage third world telcos that charge high prices and, “While I support Skype’s efforts it is almost poetic justice that they get a taste of their own medicine.”
Nor is the end of eBay’s troubles.
As Paglee points out, Morpheus p2p application owner Streamcast Networks is suing eBay and Skype for RICO violations and among those named are Nikki Hemming, ceo of Sharman Networks’ critically unacclaimed Kazaa p2p app, Sharman stalwarts Kevin Bermeister and Mark Dyne, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the original Kazaa creators, and the men behind Skype, as well as Sharman Networks itself.
"Each of the various corporate entities formed by Zenstrom, Friss, Bermeister, Dyne, Hemming, Markiles and unknown others are nothing more than a sham in an attempt to wrongfully insulate them from personal liability and to perpetrate a fraud," says the StreamCast complaint.
IDT Corp’s Net2Phone is also suing eBay and Skype for alleged infringement of a Net2Phone patent.
Multi-million dollar Sharman has just withdrawn from a libel allegation it lodged against p2pnet, leaving Kazaa boss Nikki Hemming to continue the lawsuit by herself.
Meanwhile, “the Chinese company’s understanding of Skype’s technology seems to be one of their most powerful strategies to protect themselves in case Skype tries to retaliate,” says Paglee.
“They have developed Skype blocking technology which they claim is fool-proof and extremely effective. (See VoIP Predictions for 2006 number 4.) They hold in their hands the key to enabling telcos to block Skype in China, all of the Middle East and Africa. Zap! Forty Million users vanished without a trace! The Chinese would rather make money by extending Skype to new applications rather than restricting the freedom of others. Admirable, but maybe I have lived in China for too long.”
A phone call and email to Hanzen’s office weren’t returned, says Dow Jones.
Also See:
blog – Skype Protocol Has Been Cracked, July 13, 2006
Dow Jones – Chinese Firm May Have Cracked Skype’s Code, July 15, 2006
RICO violations – Named in StreamCast vs eBay, May 27, 2006
alleged infringement – Skype sued by Net2Phone, June 3, 2006
just withdrawn – Sharman drops p2pnet libel case, July 12, 2006
p2pnet newsfeeds for your site.
rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss
Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
If you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent website blocking outside of China.
Download it here and feel free to copy the zip and host it yourself so others can download it.
July 17th, 2006 at 10:04 pm
“…there is nothing at all illegal or even morally wrong with what this group of engineers has accomplished…”
Yes!
Too bad skype will have problems grunting out totally unwanted adverts onto our screens…
I’ve got nothing against their service. It’s pretty cool actually. They are making major bank off their premium services anyway so this should not be a problem unless the pure greed factor is added to the mix. I’m pretty sick of all these drug dealer style “the first one’s free” business models were a service is offered for free, then once a client base is built up they crap it up with adverts or start charging a fee. I don’t mind people making a profit, but I’d be a lot happier to pony up the cash if they would do it without being misleading on the front end. How about a quality service at a competitive price? Gee, what a concept. I’d tell my friends about it.