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Messaging and Chatting

Text, voice and video chatting are becoming increasingly important tools for personal communication, supplementing or replacing traditional telephone and email. These services are particularly attractive for informal communications with friends and colleagues, as well as a way to reduce costs associated with international calling. Your unit may even decide to use them as a workaround if Cornell services like email are unavailable during a campus emergency.

Note: Use of instant text messaging via applications like AOL Instant Messenger or Google Talk is ubiquitous, but check with your local technical support providers to find out if there is a preferred instant messaging service in your unit.

Limitations

  • Instant messaging and voice and video chatting services are free to install or have upgraded versions available for a fairly low fee. However, you cannot use these services to connect with Cornell's video conferencing system. If you need to use your home equipment to connect with a Cornell video conference, you'll need to choose a service that is based on either of two protocols: SIP or H.323. See Web and Video Conferencing.
  • Interoperability between different voice and video chat services is generally not supported. If there is a specific person you wish to contact this way, it's easiest to simply agree on using a particular service.

Security

Be aware that instant messaging programs increase your exposure to malware installations and phishing attempts. Be sure you're talking to someone you know and trust before you answer any questions, open a transferred file, or click on a link in a message. Practice Internet Safety!

Specific security practices to employ when using instant messengers:

  • Don't run Instant Messenger or Voice over IP (VoIP) software while logged in with administrative privileges.
  • Never run these applications on a computer that hosts sensitive, regulated, or confidential data.
  • Be very cautious about accepting items offered via file transfer. Even coming from someone you trust, it may be malicious software that is propagating itself via their computer.
  • Read the license agreement carefully. If you don't agree to the terms, don't use the software.

Costs

Cost is an issue to consider with Skype which is a very popular way of talking long distance online.

  • Even though you may be saving the cost of an international phone call, you may incur NUBB charges if you are using Skype on Cornell's network.
  • If you Skyping from home on your ISP's network, you don't need to worry about Cornell NUBB charges.

More about Skype and NUBB: Using Skype on campus could result in Network Usage-Based Billing (NUBB) charges and not only for calls made by you. Because of Skype's routing model, other people's calls may be sent through your computer; your computer becomes a "supernode." Not only is your computer being used for call routing, but when it is connected to Cornell's network, Cornell bandwidth is being used. Cornell charges for transferring data above 5 GB/month off campus, so use of Skype on campus could result in unexpected additions to your monthly NUBB bills.  

It is possible to configure Skype so that your computer doesn't function as a pass through for others'calls. The best option is edit the registry. For a link to information on how to do this see What are Skype Supernodes and why do I care?

Please note that Skype's supernode capability will not reliably be blocked by a PC-based firewall: when Skype is installed, it requires administrative privileges and the installer modifies the firewall rules to allow the supernode ports.  However, an external NAT/Firewall box will block the Skype supernode behavior.

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