Comments on: Skype: We didn't know about security issues

The company's president says he knew its Chinese partner filtered messages, but he was unaware that it was storing personal information in an insecure way.

[Hacker_Forums]

They knew it, don't be stupid........I love the excuses people make up when they get caught doing something wrong.

http://www.hackerforums.org

[Hokulea]

This should come as no surprise to anyone, least of all Skype. In reality it's just the tip of the iceberg. China's broad surveillance of it's citizens would not be possible without technology from major US firms. Cisco has been at the core of China's spying efforts for years with its Watchdog Router and Policenet. In 2005 they were making $500 million a year in revenue from sales to China. Though dated, you can see for yourself here: http://www.legalaffairs.org/issues/January-February-2006/feature_bambauer_janfeb06.msp

It's no secret the Chinese government snoops on its citizens. Everybody knows it and the more tech savvy work around it. Filtering by keywords just catches the little fish. What's of more concern to me is the illegal and unconstitutional surveillance the US government conducts on its citizens. Ever heard of "SandStorm"? It "simultaneously collects, correlates, and analyzes data on multiple computer systems and departs, leaving no trace of its activities." Of course it's only used to secure the US government's networks.

It's safe to assume that anything anyone does on the internet may be scrutinized, if not by governments then by criminals. Any computer with an internet connection is also at risk. There is no privacy in cyberspace. Get used to it. If you are ever accused of a crime, or served a search warrant, the first thing the police are going to take is your hard drives.

In reality, the US isn't that far behind China when it comes to snooping on its citizens. The sad thing is that so few Americans seem to care.

[TheConsumerJournal]

China is not the only country to monitor instant messaging content. It's one concept to live in a communist country and another to live in a "free society." If one reviews the privacy policy outlined on Google's IM service, the jargon is quite ambiguous. Here is an article that should be useful for your readers.<a href="http://alertsforconsumers.com/2008/07/31/instant-messaging-privacy-intelligence.aspx/">Instant Messaging Privacy Intelligence</a>.