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Flashphone looks cool, but is it safe?

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The idea of a flash-based SIP client is very nifty. It should mean using a VoIP service when traveling gets that much easier, with no download and no NAT or router issues (you still could have sound card/microphone issues). It requires Adobe flash player version 9 or above, which may be a problem for some platforms.

But I have another question. I hate to be throwing wet blankets on this, but here we have another “anonymous” entity, this time in Russia – is it safe to give them the SIP credentials for our accounts? Who are these people? Where is the “About us” link on the website? The only contact info that I can find on the site is an email address info@flashphone.ru. Who are we giving our SIP credentials to and what are we going to do if they rack up of thousands of dollars in calls to our account? How do we know they are not selling our SIP credentials to some third party thieves?

Why don’t these companies tell us who we are dealing with? Where is the legal entity behind this product/service? Where are the terms of use? Where is the privacy policy? I would not recommend setting up Flashphone with any of your paid accounts until they provide answers to these questions, since you are providing Flashphone with your SIP settings that could be used to make phone calls with your account.

Update: Flashphone privacy policy: http://www.flashphone.ru/en/main/privacy and the company listed is “ISC LLC” – more to follow as details emerge.

7 comments for “Flashphone looks cool, but is it safe?”

  1. They have just started, maybe they will provide the answers soon. I don’t think that guys who invented this are theives and going to steal our money.

  2. Probably not, but until they provide at least some identifying information and provide a policy that says what they will and won’t do (a policy with a legal entity behind it that permits enforcement) I’m not going to provide SIP credentials with real cash value to them.

    I don’t understand how people can put up a commercial website with no information on who the commercial entity behind it is – nor do I understand why people use such a site under those conditions (Jaiku and Fring come to mind, who did the same thing when they opened their sites).

  3. a lot of VOIP startups are very small bussiness’s. funded on small capitol. russia is very burocratic. it is quite possible that forming a legal entity is way to of their budget as would be hiring a lawyer to help write terms of service or privacy policies.

    that does not mean that they are not honest hard working people. we give our credit card numbers to small shop and resteraunt owners everyday. this is not that much different. and remember it is not just internet startup the streets of russia are full of tiny kiosk retail shops that alos have no ‘legal entity’ behind them the way for example a ‘seven eleven does’

  5. I’m sorry tom, but providing my credentials to an anonymous entity 10,000 miles away (who knows where they are located really for that matter – it’s just a domain after all) is not the same as paying with a credit card at a "resteraunt" [sic].

    First, credit cards do get stolen from restaurants, but credit cards can be cancelled and the consumer is protected. My SIP account balance has no such protectionn – I won’t get my money back. Secondly, I know where the restaurant is and I can literally send the cops there if I have to. Whereas with Flashphone, I have nothing of the sort (no information at all about them, in fact).

    Thanks for providing that info FlashphoneTeam! I’ve updated the post. Can you provide more information on ISC LLC? What is the jurisdictiion of the LLC? Thanks.

  6. i have checked my crdit card aggrements and i do not see anything that would preclude the normal protection that i recieve just because it was used to fund a SIP account. people also buy all sorts of things on ebay all the time without knowing much more about the entities they are dealing with than we do about flashphone. and i am not so sure that the russian cops would not be interested in going after the flashphone group if there was some evidence of fraud

  7. i have checked my crdit card aggrements and i do not see anything that would preclude the normal protection that i recieve just because it was used to fund a SIP account. people also buy all sorts of things on ebay all the time without knowing much more about the entities they are dealing with than we do about flashphone. and i am not so sure that the russian cops would not be interested in going after the flashphone group if there was some evidence of fraud

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