Report: Skype service in China recording, censoring messages

TOM-Skype, eBay's joint venture in China, is recording customer text chats and censoring them if they contain certain keywords related to topics the government deems objectionable, according to a report released on Wednesday (PDF) by researchers in Canada.

"TOM-Skype is censoring and logging text chat messages that contain specific, sensitive keywords and may be engaged in more targeted surveillance," the report concludes. "What is clear is that TOM-Skype is engaging in extensive surveillance with seemingly little regard for the security and privacy of Skype users. This is in direct contradiction of Skype's public statements regarding their policies in China."

The keywords that trigger action include words related to Taiwanese independence, the banned religious group Falun Gong, and political opposition to the Chinese Communist Party, says the report from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.

The service also routinely logs and captures millions of records that include personal information and contact details for any text chat and voice calls placed to TOM-Skype users, including calls from Skype users, the researchers found.

Not only is the data collection suspect, but there are inadequate safeguards to protect the privacy of the TOM-Skype users, according to the report. The records and information needed to decrypt the log files are kept on servers that are accessible by the public.

"This is the worst nightmares of the conspiracy theorists around surveillance coming true," Ronald J. Deibert, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto, told The New York Times. "It's X-Files without the aliens."

Representatives from eBay did not immediately respond to e-mails seeking comment on the report.

[MickBurke]

Um, is this a shock? They murdered thousands of their own citizens in Tienanmen Square, and didn't let the ugly kid sing (publicly) at the olympics. They convince otherwise respectable companies (i.e. google and yahoo) to be complicit in the imprisonment of dissidents.

If you people want to look the other way so you can get cheap crap from them, and sell tons of expensive crap to them, then do what you do, but don't pretend that it is surprising, or even that you care, when they continue to be the most reprehensible and murderous government on the face of the earth.

[Laserdisc]

What you say is very true, but China is not the most reprehensible and murderous government on the face of the Earth. There are plenty of other governments around the world that would make the Chinese government seem humanitarian.

[frasercrane]

I agree w laserdisc when s/he implies there is little political insight in this post because it almost sounds like it would have been understandable if they murdered thousands of "other" citizens, and not their own.

[Travis Ernst]

Just another round of Hoover wiretaps only this time it's based off US soil so we don't have control of it.

Web "turf" has always been questionable. If the physical location of the server is not on domestic soil, and on a country that allows this sort of intrusion, there is nothing we can do. It all boils down to the location of the server/hub/router for who has legal control.

Don't forget Uncle Sam and their non court issued wire taps claiming it's for "the safety of the country".

They (US gov) can go about it legally in the US (FISA) and then it's only a SEALED order that you can't see why or who or who what reason it was issued.

[KingSlav]

Duh! This is news?

[sanenazok]

Exactly...government spies on its citizens...what's next...top news Russia uses petrodollars to pressure neighbors...