THE FRONT PAGE of ubuntu.com is still offering an endorsement for Skype, despite all the controversy and recent onfirmation that Skype is a spy. Canonical even puts it in the software center as though it is Free software, according to this new report. First there was the UEFI scandal and now this?

Over the past few weeks, the technical blogosphere, and most recently, the mainstread media have tried to answer the question: What kind of assistance can Skype provide to law enforcement agencies?

Most of the stories have been filled with speculation, sometimes informed, but mostly not. In an attempt to paint as clear a picture as possible, I want to explain what we do and don't know about Skype and surveillance.

[...]

However, a quick Google search for "Skype law enforcement handbook" quickly turns up an official looking document on the whistleblower website cryptome.org, dated October 2007, which makes it clear that Skype has long been providing the assistance that the Post claims is new.

From Skype's 2007 law enforcement handbook:

In response to a subpoena or other court order, Skype will provide: ● Registration information provided at time of account registration ● E-mail address ● IP address at the time of registration ● Financial transactions conducted with Skype in the past year, although details of the credit cards used are stored only by the billing provider used (for instance, Bibit, RBS or PayPal) ● Destination telephone numbers for any calls placed to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) ● All service and account information, including any billing address(es) provided, IP address (at each transaction), and complete transactional information