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Thread: Microsoft Buys Skype, Makes Changes to Allow Police Surveillance

  1. #1

    Microsoft Buys Skype, Makes Changes to Allow Police Surveillance

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...W_story_1.html

    Skype’s resistance to government monitoring, part of the company ethos when European engineers founded it in 2003, resulted from both uncommonly strong encryption and a key technical feature: Skype calls connected computers directly rather than routing data through central servers, as many other Internet-based communication systems do. That makes it more difficult for law enforcement to intercept the call.

    []

    Industry officials said the resulting push for the creation of so-called “supernodes,” which routed some data through centralized servers, made greater cooperation with law enforcement authorities possible.

    'We endorse the idea of voluntarism; self-responsibility: Family, friends, and churches to solve problems, rather than saying that some monolithic government is going to make you take care of yourself and be a better person. It's a preposterous notion: It never worked, it never will. The government can't make you a better person; it can't make you follow good habits.' - Ron Paul 1988

    Awareness is the Root of Liberation Revolution is Action upon Revelation

    'Resistance and Disobedience in Economic Activity is the Most Moral Human Action Possible' - SEK3

    Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.

    ...the familiar ritual of institutional self-absolution...
    ...for protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment...




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  3. #2
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    I'm honestly more shocked this wasn't happening sooner.

  4. #3
    If you want to know where some of the money in the classified "Intelligence" budget goes, some of it just went into Microsoft's pocket
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
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  5. #4
    Kinect.......Skype......A camera in every home..

  6. #5
    You know $#@! is $#@!ed up when Microsoft patents the technology that makes it easier for the government to spy on us.

    Corporations profiting off government spying = What the $#@! do you even call that? Fascism?

    Microsoft won a patent in June 2011 for “legal intercept”

    Though the patent was filed well before Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype, it mentions Skype explicitly as an example application for this technology. Microsoft defends itself by claiming that such technology has existed since a long time for traditional calls, but it does not work with VoIP. The patent describes recording agents that can be placed in several hardware devices as well as software modules that logically and/or physically sits between the call server and the network. The patent was granted last week.

    Clearly, the implications of the technology would be severe, especially in the enterprise world. So far, Skype has resisted CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act) compliance which would make it suitable to be used for surveillance purposes by federal law enforcement agencies. The ‘protocol’ has been Skype’s best kept secret till date and I personally believe it’s ‘The Da Vinci Code’ of the modern web. Given a choice, I believe the Skype management would oppose the idea of eavesdropping on calls. However, now that the Redmond-giant is calling the shots, expect the unexpected.

    Microsoft says that ‘Legal Intercept’ can be used by the US government or “one of its agencies”. If further mentions that this technology would require obtaining “appropriate legal permission”, which might not be that difficult for a government to acquire. The technology can record any kind of voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) communications. “VoIP may include audio messages transmitted via gaming systems, instant messaging protocols that transmit audio, Skype and Skype-like applications, meeting software, video conferencing software, and the like,” Microsoft said in the filing.

    http://www.thetelecomblog.com/2011/0...ve-a-backdoor/
    It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work, whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up, motivating yourself and just doing it.
    - Kim Kardashian

    Donald Trump / Crenshaw 2024!!!!

    My pronouns are he/him/his

  7. #6
    This is yet another reason I don't intend to ever buy another Microsoft product ever again. Okay, I'm currently using Windows, but this is on a computer I bought years ago, before I was aware of Microsoft's cooperation with law enforcement. I plan on migrating everything over to Linux and never looking back. I encourage others who care about freedom to do the same.

    As a bonus, you'll save a lot of money by sticking to open source software. Who needs the planned obsolescence of one MS Office version after another? Open Office is just as good, and it's free.

    Incidentally, it goes without saying that anything one REALLY needs to keep private should never be communicated electronically. I wouldn't even do it with encryption. Say it face-to-face, by snail mail, carrier pigeon, or whatever.
    Last edited by GuerrillaXXI; 01-02-2013 at 03:58 AM.
    "Man lives freely only by his readiness to die." -- Mohandas K. Gandhi

    "Generally speaking, the way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death." -- Miyamoto Musashi

  8. #7
    <--- hasn't updated skype since MS bought it .. doesn't have webcam or mic.. only uses it in a beta testing group for a 3D VW as an intstant messenger
    Disclaimer: any post made after midnight and before 8AM is made before the coffee dip stick has come up to optomim level - expect some level of silliness,

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  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by GuerrillaXXI View Post
    This is yet another reason I don't intend to ever buy another Microsoft product ever again. Okay, I'm currently using Windows, but this is on a computer I bought years ago, before I was aware of Microsoft's cooperation with law enforcement. I plan on migrating everything over to Linux and never looking back. I encourage others who care about freedom to do the same.

    Download Ubuntu TODAY; do not look back.

    Its so easy.

    'We endorse the idea of voluntarism; self-responsibility: Family, friends, and churches to solve problems, rather than saying that some monolithic government is going to make you take care of yourself and be a better person. It's a preposterous notion: It never worked, it never will. The government can't make you a better person; it can't make you follow good habits.' - Ron Paul 1988

    Awareness is the Root of Liberation Revolution is Action upon Revelation

    'Resistance and Disobedience in Economic Activity is the Most Moral Human Action Possible' - SEK3

    Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo.

    ...the familiar ritual of institutional self-absolution...
    ...for protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment...




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  11. #9
    If the government can't decrypt your conversations that it intercepts, then it will store it in their Utah Data Center until such time that their computing power will be able to do so.
    __________________________________________________ ________________
    "A politician will do almost anything to keep their job, even become a patriot" - Hearst

  12. #10
    Whelp, you sure won't find me using Skype!

  13. #11

  14. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by bxm042 View Post
    You know $#@! is $#@!ed up when Microsoft patents the technology that makes it easier for the government to spy on us.
    MSFT probably doesn't have a choice. The govt is like the mafia: "you'll comply and we'll make it worth your while, or else"
    __________________________________________________ ________________
    "A politician will do almost anything to keep their job, even become a patriot" - Hearst

  15. #13

    Question

    Isn't this article from last summer?
    __________________________________________________ ________________
    "A politician will do almost anything to keep their job, even become a patriot" - Hearst

  16. #14
    I would fully switch over to Linux (I run a few servers off of it, and program using it) but I can't leave behind my video games. So I stick with Windows. That is the only MS product I use though.

  17. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by jcannon98188 View Post
    I would fully switch over to Linux (I run a few servers off of it, and program using it) but I can't leave behind my video games. So I stick with Windows. That is the only MS product I use though.
    That's understandable. But I'd suggest dedicating that one MS computer to video games, and having a Linux computer for everything else.
    "Man lives freely only by his readiness to die." -- Mohandas K. Gandhi

    "Generally speaking, the way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death." -- Miyamoto Musashi

  18. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by GuerrillaXXI View Post
    That's understandable. But I'd suggest checking out this review of PhenQ and dedicating that one MS computer to video games, and having a Linux computer for everything else.
    You can't trust any form of communications these days to not get intercepted by the government. This doesn't surprise me at all that Microsoft would make money letting the gov intercept their users communications. They are a business not our friend. it just sucks that we have zero privacy anymore.

    And I wonder what the data they store on us will be used for?
    Last edited by Sway; 02-09-2022 at 04:35 AM.



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