Questions arise on Skype snooping

NEW YORK (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.”

Skype, the Hong Kong version of which is seen, is difficult to wiretap, but security questions are being raised.

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 communicate without fear of eavesdropping.

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Report: Skype Helped China Snoop on Users

By Renay San Miguel
E-Commerce Times
Part of the ECT News Network
10/02/08 2:00 PM PT

In China, nothing is private. As if we needed more proof, a Canadian group has spotted a bank of unsecured servers containing what appear to be filtered-out information from Skype messages that might run afoul of Chinese censors — terms such as “Falun Gong” and “Taiwan independence.”

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