Re: [LAU] OT: linux phone?

On Tuesday 03 June 2008 18:54, Michelle Konzack wrote:
> Am 2008-06-02 23:14:04, schrieb Esben Stien:
> > Michelle Konzack <linux4michelle@email-addr-hidden-dogan.net> writes:
> > > But SIP is a Non-Free proprietary protocol
> > No, it's not.
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_Initiation_Protocol
> And WHY is it patented and you can not change the something on
> the protocol? It is only FREE, if you use it as it is. This was
> the last thing I have heared from the Developers...

Lots of people have written SIP extensions, and some are even in RFCs.
SIP itself is RFC 3261. It's no more proprietary than protocols such
as SASL, ICMP, IDENT and dozens of others.

For that matter, many SIP implementations are available in Debian and
are not located in the non-free repositories, and if anyone is anal
about free vs. non-free it's Debian. The GNU project implements SIP
in a library called oSIP, so it has to be compatible with the GPL,
meaning you can make whatever changes to the protocol that you want.
You could take oSIP and use it to implement your own protocol called
oMichelle and as long as you released your code under the GPL, no one
would bat an eye. For that matter, NIST appears to have their own
SIP implementation which is public domain, for those who have a
different definition of "free software" than the Free Software
Foundation.

Please document what you are claiming, and in particular, who "the
Developers" are. Are you maybe thinking of Skype, which is
proprietary and owned by one company (ebay)?

> Also SIP require to go over a SIP server/gateway which are all
> falling under the US Patriot Act since SIPgate is an US-American
> enterprise :-/ a thing, I can not recommend.

You can run a SIP gateway on any Linux Asterisk box. It doesn't have
to be located in the US. My business partner runs one privately in
Israel. Now, running a public one might require you to deal with
your country's telecom regulators, but that'll be true with any kind
of PSTN-to-IP gateway, not just SIP.

Also, I had never heard of SIPgate, despite being American. The
reason is that not only is SIPgate a German company, but they don't
seem to even operate in the United States despite offering US phone
numbers to their UK customers. It may be that they cooperate to an
unfortunate level with American law enforcement, but as far as I can
tell they fall outside the jurisdiction of the USA Patriot Act. At
any rate, they are merely a provider of a SIP gateway, not the
inventor of SIP nor the only provider. Maybe they have some kind of
monopoly in Germany, but a quick google for German SIP gateway
providers reveals dozens of them, so I don't think that's the case.

I think you need to do a little more research and stop listening to
whatever vendor has been selling you this FUD. SIP certainly has its
shortcomings, but being proprietary, free-software-incompatible or
US-controlled are not among them.

Rob
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Received on Wed Jun 4 20:15:03 2008