AP - A Canadian researcher has discovered that a Chinese version of eBay Inc.’s Skype communications software snoops on text chats that contain certain keywords, including "democracy."The revelation is not only of interest to rights groups that monitor Internet censorship. The discovery also likely intrigues law enforcement and intelligence agencies in other countries, because they have been bothered by the growing use of Skype, which claims 338 million users across the world.
By its very nature, Skype is difficult to wiretap. Skype routes calls and chats between computers over the Internet, avoiding traditional phone networks. And the contents are supposedly encrypted, raising concerns in law enforcement that Skype could let criminals to communicate without fear of eavesdropping.
The FBI has argued for applying U.S. wiretapping law to Internet phone calls. The bureau got a favorable court ruling in 2006, but it’s not clear whether it applies to systems like Skype that skip telephone networks.
In the other camp, privacy advocates and security experts are concerned that Skype, while presented by the company as a secure channel of communication, has some kind of "back door" that allows eavesdropping. Whether Skypetapping is already going on in the U.S. and Europe is a matter that the company has equivocated on for years. Read more...
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