Apple Now Relaying All FaceTime Calls Due To Lost Patent Dispute 179
Em Adespoton writes "Before the VirnetX case, nearly all FaceTime calls were done through a system of direct communication. Essentially, Apple would verify that both parties had valid FaceTime accounts and then allow their two devices to speak directly to each other over the Internet, without any intermediary or 'relay' servers. However, a small number of calls—5 to 10 percent, according to an Apple engineer who testified at trial—were routed through 'relay servers.' At the August 15 hearing, a VirnetX lawyer stated that Apple had logged 'over half a million calls' complaining about the quality of FaceTime [since disabling direct connections]."
uhuh sure (Score:5, Interesting)
Nothing to do with ability to intercept.
What patent? (Score:5, Interesting)
What is the patent involved here? Establishing a connection between two entities on an IP network? NAT traversal techniques? Usage of Interactive Connectivity Establishment protocols?
Perhaps Apple can countersue (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Lost a lawsuit? (Score:4, Interesting)
"Just ask Obama to overturn the ruling." Requesting the legislative branches not to allocate resources for enforcement is more the current administrations' style.
To be fair, that's easier than trying to get the Legislative Branch to *actually* do something (about anything). According to Slate [slate.com] the 113th Congress has passed only 15 bills this year for Obama to sign while "... more than 4,000 bills have been referred to committee this year, where most will die of starvation."
For comparison's sake, George W. Bush signed 13 bills into law on today's date alone [July 12] in 2005—with a Republican majority in both houses, mind you—but seven of those bills were sponsored by Democrats!
Of course, we only have ourselves to blame for voting all these weasels into office...
Re:Something I noted... (Score:4, Interesting)
Look at the proceedings of the Oracle x Google case about the Java patents. Oracle listed him as a paid source.
Re:uhuh sure (Score:5, Interesting)
This is marked troll, but consider that Skype has been taken from a distributed system to a system with a central server farm in Redmond.
Totally more inefficient for users (relaying makes Skype suck more), but much more efficient for TLAs.
And considering recent events (and events over the past 20 years, really) it's common sense.
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BMO
Re:Something I noted... (Score:4, Interesting)
If you haven't seen any evidence, then you have not actually done any looking.
Anyway, I cannot see why anyone would put any stock in anything he has to say.