10.14.13
Gemini version available ♊︎Techrights Was Right About Skype All Along
Summary: Realisations about Skype, which is now under investigation by Luxembourg’s data protection commissioner
YEARS ago we warned that Skype had become a surveillance tool like never before. A year and a half ago we explained how Skype had become a tool for NSA eavesdropping on calls all around the world, not just calls within the United States (or routed through US allies like the UK), potentially engaging in espionage against nations outside the EU and Russia (Sweden has been used as an outpost for such eavesdropping).
In a way, Techrights was right about Skype falling into the NSA’s hands 2 years ago. Given the NSA’s very strong relationship with Microsoft, the acquisition may as well be taxpayers-funded. Now there is a formal investigation into it in Europe, where politicians got bugged by the NSA:
A EUROPEAN DATA PROTECTION WATCHDOG is investigating Microsoft’s voice over IP (VoIP) and chat service Skype about its suspected links to the US National Security Agency (NSA).
According to a report in the Guardian newspaper Skype is being investigated by Luxembourg’s data protection commissioner. Since the firm is based in Europe it might find itself under strict inspection and facing criminal proceedings and possible sanctions.
Here is more. We wrote about it years ago, but back then people considered that “paranoid”, despite evidence existing (not evidence as hard as what Snowden later leaked). █