While surveillance of the audio and video feeds of the online phone service remains impractical – even when courts issue warrants – that barrier, too, could eventually be dismantled as Skype transforms into one of the globe’s premier forms of telecommunication, The Washington Post reported recently.
“The changes to online chats, which are written messages conveyed almost instantaneously between users, result in part from technical upgrades to Skype that were instituted to address outages and other stability issues since Microsoft bought the company last year,” the Post said. “Officials of the United States and other countries have long pushed to expand their access to newer forms of communications to resolve an issue that the FBI calls the ‘going dark’ problem.”
‘Yes, officer – what else can I do for you?’
Once more, it appears, the reason being given for requiring the access is “national security,” though the excuse hasn’t been lost on Microsoft. An industry official familiar with the tech giant’s plans told the Post that the company is approaching the issue with “tremendous sensitivity and a canny awareness of what the issues would be” regarding, most likely, privacy concerns.
Then again, the source said, Microsoft already has “a long track record of working successfully with law enforcement here and internationally,” whatever “successfully” means.
The changes will give police access to credit card numbers and addresses, among other information. That’s made cops and government agencies happy, of course, but privacy advocates are understandably cringing – again.
http://truthisscary.com/2012/08/skype-goes-big-brother-allowing-police-to-monitor-text-chats/
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