On May 11, 2011, at 8:05 AM, Florin Iucha wrote:

> On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 07:06:14AM -0500, Ryan Coleman wrote:
>>> http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2009/02/24/skype-steals-bandwidth-%E2%80%94-even-when-you-are-not-using-it/
>> 
>> I read the blog.  What makes it any different than AIM, Yahoo, etc.,
>> that calls home regularly to tell you if your friends are online or not
>> or that you are online. Do you get a disclaimer on Adium or Pidgin or
>> Trillian? No.
> 
> Well, duh!  "Calling home" to see who else is connected is an obvious
> design for a person-server-person communication system.  Just like
> IRC.  But with IRC or Pidgin, the only thing going through your wire
> are bytes that you are originating or that you are receiving.  For
> your benefit.  With Skype you might be receiving, sending or computing
> checksums on behalf of other people whom you have never met.
> 
> Now, this is not necessary a bad thing - this is how Skype makes money
> and can keep its services discounted to clients and profitable to the
> shareholders.  As long as you know and you agree, all is fine.  The
> trouble is when Skype consumes more resources that one expects.

Except that they have yet to turn a true profit :)