Obihai is deleting unwanted topics
jimates:
I know in the past when an Obi had trouble, Obihai has only ask for an email including the Obitalk # for the device. They never asked to set provisioning in a certain way, just provide the number. This did suggest that they had a way to access the device with minimal effort, and without proprietary settings on the device. If that is bad (for anyone in particular), then so be it.
For those that do not use google voice, and those that do not want Obihai to update your firmware, perhaps the new knowledge for settings will help.
This recent occurrence involved only a google voice problem. If google was really providing a service they may have fixed themselves (or not caused it in the first place). Personally, I prefer my device remain operable with google voice, even if that mean letting Obihai maintain it for that purpose. And considering all the info I knowingly put out to the world, I can't think of anything anyone could get through my Obi device that would be detrimental.
VaHam:
Quote from: jimates on May 13, 2012, 02:01:51 pm
I know in the past when an Obi had trouble, Obihai has only ask for an email including the Obitalk # for the device. They never asked to set provisioning in a certain way, just provide the number. This did suggest that they had a way to access the device with minimal effort, and without proprietary settings on the device. If that is bad (for anyone in particular), then so be it.
For those that do not use google voice, and those that do not want Obihai to update your firmware, perhaps the new knowledge for settings will help.
This recent occurrence involved only a google voice problem. If google was really providing a service they may have fixed themselves (or not caused it in the first place). Personally, I prefer my device remain operable with google voice, even if that mean letting Obihai maintain it for that purpose. And considering all the info I knowingly put out to the world, I can't think of anything anyone could get through my Obi device that would be detrimental.
As you pointed out the settings do not prevent OBiHai or under certain rare circumstances (as we have beat to death) others from modifying the software on the OBi device.
If your only using Google Voice then probably not much damage could occur if someone gained control of your OBi; however if you use any paid sip provider then this is another matter. If they gained access and starting routing calls using your sip information then you'd get a bill for the use.
It is for that reason I only use pay as you go sip providers and never select auto pay. That way my liability is limited to the amount of funds I place into the account. Just another layer of security against a $100,000 phone bill.
Ostracus:
You might want to read the comments and take that article with a grain of salt.
nmssystems1:
I think it is great that they fixed there own service obi talk.. i use obi talk at 30 plus sites in fact it was the only thing working last week. when the gv died.. i knew that when i setup this phone system. that is why i have all the office call office to office using the obi talk service.. it should always work it is part of the service that obi takes care of.. i understand that they can make changes to the device to make sure that the obi talk service works.. in fact i am glad they do take such action to make sure there obi service is up and runing all the time.. as far as the post being removed.. i understand that calling a back door in a device that has service from a vendor it not correct.. if you have the service obi talk and take advantage of the service on the device then you can expect they will make changes to the deivce or service any time they want..
so the admin was correct in removing the post and in explaining how the obi talk service works..
MichiganTelephone:
I'm really surprised they don't delete more of RonR's posts. He may be a knowledgeable user in some areas (such as Obihai dial plans) but it is obvious he is no friend of Obihai.
The thing is that there is a small percentage of users, I'd guess under 10%, that are what I would classify as paranoid about security. They think you cannot possibly be too security conscious. These are people who would sacrifice usability for security. Every time they see an article where someone, somewhere in the world got hacked, they think they're next.
But the vast majority of people prefer usability to security. To prove that you only need look at the relative acceptance of Windows vs. Mac OS X or especially Linux. And while you could argue that OS X is getting more popular, that also has to do more with relative usability than with any sudden desire for increased security. But at this point Windows is still the most popular OS, even though it's widely recognized as the least secure. If the average user were more concerned about security than usability, Linux would have been the dominant OS a long time ago.
When it comes to a VoIP device, the vast majority of people just want it to keep working, and appreciate the update. In fact, if Obihai could guarantee that an update couldn't "brick" a device (because the power just happened to get disconnected in the middle of an update), I'd have no problem with them sending every firmware update automatically. So you have the vast majority of people who appreciate such updates, and a handful of complainers that are going to gripe about it. Which group should Obihai cater to? It's pretty clear that from the beginning they have wanted to create a device that average users (those without a lot of technical knowledge of VoIP) could set up and use.
Maybe guys like RonR will deem the Obihai too "insecure" for his tastes, since he seems to dwell on the negative and envisions bad things that might happen (the "if this, then that" fallacy, where in reality "that" does not, and in all probability never will, follow "this"). In that case, there are other VoIP devices out there that he could try; perhaps one of those would better meet his needs (personally I doubt it — I suspect he'd find some reason to complain about whatever device he uses). But if Obihai had let almost their entire user base remain in a state where their devices would not work as expected until they figured out that they needed to upgrade their firmware (since I suspect that most of the people that have purchased an Obihai have done so to use it with Google Voice), I suspect you'd have seen a lot more people badmouthing the Obihai as unreliable over the last few days.
Please keep in mind that Obihai has to think about their entire user base, not just a few vocal complainers. I'm not saying that they shouldn't attempt to satisfy as many users as possible, but sometimes if you do something that makes one group happy, it ticks off another. Look at Microsoft, they have grudgingly attempted to tighten security a bit, but I doubt they will ever adopt the cumbersome permissions/ownership security of Linux/Unix (OS X uses it too, but has been more successful in insulating users from it). They know who their users are and what they want, which is a computer that's as easy to use as possible. I think perhaps that's the market Obihai is trying to capture as well, not necessarily the "security paranoid" types.
If I report a problem, I want Obihai to be able to look inside my device and figure out what's wrong and fix it, and I really don't care if I don't have to flip some switch or set some bit — in fact, I'd prefer it if I didn't have to. If something that Google does requires a firmware update, I want Obihai to be able to send me the fix, and I might even prefer they do it before I miss any incoming calls because I don't know the problem exists. If someone strongly feels otherwise, and doesn't fully trust that the method Obihai has given for disabling such access will work, then perhaps they are in the same boat as the person who refuses to run Windows and will only use Linux because they just don't trust Windows. I'm not saying they are wrong, but they need to be realistic and understand that most people do not share their viewpoint.
Maybe someday, someone will come out with an open source VoIP adapter with airtight security, and it will take 10 years to get 5% of the VoIP adapter market (if what has happened with Linux is any guide). But I don't think that is the market that Obihai is aiming for.
(And no, I don't run Windows - I have machines with both OS X and Ubuntu Linux. I'm just making a point here.)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page