Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Skype Plebes Petition Redmond Patricians

A coalition of activists, privacy organizations, journalists, and others have called upon Microsoft to be more forthright about when, why, and to whom it discloses information about Skype users and their communications.

In an open letter published on Thursday, the group argues that Redmond's statements about the confidentiality of Skype conversations have been "persistently unclear and confusing," casting the security and privacy of the Skype platform in doubt...

The group claims that both Microsoft and Skype have refused to answer questions about what kinds of user data the service retains, whether it discloses such data to governments, and whether Skype conversations can be intercepted. (more)


"more forthright" 
"in doubt" 
Please.

The original Skype-in-the-wild was viewed as high security privacy tool. Guess who didn't like that. Guess why Skype was "bought" in from the wild and given adult supervision. (Think Spypke.)

Post de facto petitioning is painful to watch. If you want privacy, you need to start much earlier in the game. It begins with self-reliance.  

Example: You don't see smart corporations sitting around waiting for 'the government' or some free software to protect their information. No, they take proactive measures like TSCM and IT security. They don't wait and whine later.