Skype denies helping feds spy on users
CNET) Skype has come under fire this past week for allegedly letting the U.S. government use its service to spy on its users. The online call service company is now saying that's simply not true.
"Some media stories recently have suggested Skype may be acting improperly or based on ulterior motives against our users' interests," Skype Chief Development and Operations Officer Mark Gillett wrote in a blog post today. "Nothing could be more contrary to the Skype philosophy."
Skype serves 250 million active users a month and supported 115 billion minutes of calls in the last quarter. It is specifically being accused of facilitating law enforcement wiretapping of conversations. These accusations point to changes that have happened in the service since it was bought by Microsoft in May 2011, most notably the way calls can be intercepted.
In the blog post, Gillett goes point by point to explain Skype's side of the story. Here are some highlights:
It has been suggested that Skype made changes in its architecture at the behest of Microsoft in order to provide law enforcement with greater access to our users' communications.
False. Skype's architecture decisions are based on our desire to provide the best possible product to our users. Skype was in the process of developing and moving supernodes to cloud servers significantly ahead of the Microsoft acquisition of Skype. Skype first deployed 'mega-supernodes' to the cloud to improve reliability of the Skype software and service in December 2010.
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