Re:PGPfone (1995)
by p4bl0 on Saturday August 31, 2013 @02:11PM
(#6307548)
I've recently given a try to Jitsi [1] and seriously it works great. It really is a Skype drop-in replacement, and is fully open source. Without any need for configuration, I could discuss by text, audio, and video (and also do screen-sharing) all encrypted between my Debian laptop and a Windows PC, using existing XMPP (Jabber) account.
Really I've never seen any other free software do as good as Jitsi in the VoIP field. I've always tried SIP client and it was never perfect. Jitsi can do SIP to, but does wonder over XMPP so I didn't even try SIP.
Re:PGPfone (1995)
by verandaguy on Saturday August 31, 2013 @05:15PM
(#6308129)
PGP gathers entropy for keys using user interactions with the computer (mouse movements, keyboard input, normal usage) as well as disk and memory activity, making for more true random number generation than the PRNG that uses the pool in many modern processors, which could be 'fixed' by the NSA following recent revelations.
Like the other poster said, using various computer inputs to feed the entropy source during key generation is not specific to PGP or public-key cryptography at all.
Re:PGPfone (1995)
by verandaguy on Sunday September 01, 2013 @01:09AM
(#6309223)
That seems like a misleadingly-broad term, but sure. IMO, public-key cryptography (or just asymmetric crypto) is already an improvement over "the Diffie-Hellman key exchange," which is what's generally implied when talking about public-key crypto.
Re:PGPfone (1995)
by devx on Saturday August 31, 2013 @09:45AM
(#6306806)
Jitsi also uses ZRTP for audio and video on the desktop, and there's RedPhone on Android and Silent Eyes (Silent Circle) for both Android and iOS. There are probably a few others, too.
I'm not sure if it can be used with WebRTC clients, or if it's even needed there.
Re:PGPfone (1995)
by frank_boyd on Saturday August 31, 2013 @10:25AM
(#6306878)
Personally, I'd stay away from anything that is closed-source (as we don't know what's happening inside) and/or centralized (because it's just one more attack vector and totally unnecessary for VoIP).
Re:PGPfone (1995)
by JshWright on Saturday August 31, 2013 @10:43AM
(#6306914)
Which of the above don't involve a central server? A server is absolutely necessary for VoIP, if only to set up calls (its also the only way to deal with some NATs).
Re:PGPfone (1995)
by frank_boyd on Saturday August 31, 2013 @11:19AM
(#6306994)
RetroShare is completely decentralized/p2p/OTR.
EDIT: @JshWright - Not sure I understand your question, but RS does "real-time voice communication" (besides the other things like chat, messaging, file sharing, forums, channels...)
Re:PGPfone (1995)
by vertex-four on Saturday August 31, 2013 @03:46PM
(#6307848)
The issue is that behind certain NATs, WebRTC's peer-to-peer component can't work. In these situations, it needs to fall back to using an ICE/STUN server, or some other form of proxy between peers.
Really I've never seen any other free software do as good as Jitsi in the VoIP field. I've always tried SIP client and it was never perfect. Jitsi can do SIP to, but does wonder over XMPP so I didn't even try SIP.
[1] http://jitsi.org/
Like the other poster said, using various computer inputs to feed the entropy source during key generation is not specific to PGP or public-key cryptography at all.
I'm not sure if it can be used with WebRTC clients, or if it's even needed there.
EDIT: @JshWright - Not sure I understand your question, but RS does "real-time voice communication" (besides the other things like chat, messaging, file sharing, forums, channels...)