Secure VoIP, GNU SIP Witch, and replacing Skype with free software

“For a number of years I have been working when possible on what
is called the GNU Telephony Secure Calling initiative. The GNU
Telephony Secure Calling initiative was itself originally formed
specifically to make passive voice communication intercept a thing
of the past using free software and public standards, and came out
of ideas from and work of the New York City civil liberties
community and New York Fair Use in the early part of this
decade.

“While it is true that technological means for mass
communication intercept has grown with incremental improvements in
communication technology, the means to apply and use encryption
techniques to counter these abuses and offer communication privacy
on a large scale using free software have also become possible.
Given the nature of this project, excellent work had been done by
volunteer contributors in Europe such as Werner Dittmann who made
our rapid and successful development of a ZRTP compliant stack
possible, and Federico Pouzols, who rewrote and the RTP stack I had
originally authored for use with GNU Bayonne. The use of non-US
based contributors was specifically encouraged to avoid putting
additional people in potential danger in the United States for
working on cryptographic systems for worldwide public use
specifically to avoid communication intercept.”

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