Skype is perhaps one of the most recognizable communication services presently available on the Web. With over 280 million users, it’s certainly growing. But, what about the terms and conditions. Does Microsoft have the ability to tap your VoIP calls?
ZDNet recently ran a piece describing Microsoft as a “big brother” to Skype users. Citing terms and conditions, it really does appear that Microsoft has the ability to listen in whenever it wants.
Section 1:N of the Skype Privacy Policy states that Skype may gather and collect:
(n) Content of instant messaging communications, voicemails, and videomails
What may be concerning is that tell-tale broad clause in the policy that indicates the data being collected includes (but is not limited) to a list of various data points associated with a user’s account and activity. Of course Skype would keep record of messaging communications, voicemails, and videomails. It needs to have record of this data to deliver them to recipients.
Not only that, but Microsoft (and Skype) is required to adhere to a number of laws from various regions around the world pertaining to data retention. A court can subpoena your instant messages and require that phone service be tapped. It happens on regular phones, and it could very well happen on VOIP. Legal definitions are generally pretty broad that way.
So, does Microsoft have employees listening in on your video calls to your parents? Not likely. It’s possible Microsoft may be retaining the information and even keeping record of those calls for law enforcement and internal data mining. Your instant messages may even be considered the property of Microsoft/Skype as it’s a free service and it’s all considered to be data in a privately owned database.
According to section 12 of the Skype Privacy Policy:
Messages are generally stored by Skype for a maximum of between 30 and 90 days unless otherwise permitted or required by law.
Based on this clause, it isn’t terribly likely that Microsoft is building a giant database full of your messages dating back to the start of your account. This might be the case if law enforcement or local regulations require this information be retained for longer, but it wouldn’t appear (at least to my layman’s eyes) that these policies are outrageous or particularly nefarious.
What is rather concerning are earlier reports that Skype (and now Microsoft) don’t appear to be very forthcoming when asked whether or not they are able to (or actively are) listening in on voice calls. Your instant messages are being recorded (even in peer-to-peer sessions) so it stands to reason that this would be a concern to privacy conscious users.
Not everyone uses Skype to talk to their parents. There are political dissidents, refugees, and even some whistleblowers using Skype to communicate information in a way the bypasses traditional phone networks which are traditionally much easier to get a court order to access. Skype provides an element of anonymity, much like a burner phone would. You could access it from a new account set up in virtually any location without having to throw down your photo ID or submit to a credit check to do so.
Do you trust Skype to keep your private conversations private? Is Microsoft listening in on your conversations?
Woman With Headset Talking by Vera Kratochvil
I trust Microsoft with this information. I have nothing to hide when I talk to my friends on Skype. They can listen of they want, heck, they can join in on the conversion if they wanted to. It’s completely understandable that they save your messages/voice calls. It’s for the safety of this world. If you are talking about hurting someone, and the Law gets involved they need to go to Microsoft and ask for what you were talking about to make sure you don’t hurt that person. It makes the world go round. We need law, we need order. Something to stop us from doing bad things.
We can say thanks. So long as Microsoft is not taking advantage of this, and stealing business plans from people using their services. That would be a bummer. But then people would go to Google Plus Hangouts then.
You are oblivious to the world around you apparently. ”
It’s for the safety of this world.” You really need to grow up, it’s about the powers that be wanting to stay that way. They could care less about your safety. Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
In other words, your a “Sheeple”. So when you or a friend are having a conversation and you jokingly say your going to shoot the pres, do you think it’s OK for law enforcement to knock down your door, take you to the floor with a gun stuck to the back of your head while being handcuffed, and then prosecuted for making a terroristic threat against the president? I mean, joking or not, you have nothing to hide, right?
People have already had this done to them from tweeting, what makes you think Skype would be any different?
And for the “safety of the world” thing, is just totally laughable. So far there has been 0, zilch, nada, none, terrorist caught in the U.S. from the new gov’t spy laws, AKA; Patriot Act, etc. NONE! But millions of honest Americans have been spied on none-the-less.
So what’s next sheeple, video cameras in the bedrooms of all Americans? Where does it stop in the name of “Security”?.
BTW, I don’t feel any safer with the gov’t spying on me, the real terrorist know how to get around all that stuff already…..
I’m just saying that they have the legal right to save your conversations. I was joking when I said that they can join the conversation. If we believe that they are listening, then chances are, we won’t say things we will later regret while on Skype.
They have no such legal right. ”
If we believe that they are listening, then chances are, we won’t say things we will later regret while on Skype.” So the right to free speech is gone and you have to be careful what you say for fear the police will be banging on your door one night. Does this sound familiar?. The blase attitude of people like you not calling BS when BS like this pops up, not watching what is being done by your lawmakers, is what allows rights and freedoms to be eroded at the alarming rate they are.
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”
Thomas Jefferson
I see what you are saying. But it’s not like they are listening. They do have the right to save the information for 30 – 90 days. It states that. Do they listen to it? No, they have millions of people’s information to collect, and it would be a waste of time to listen to it all. But they do save it for some time. They do this because the Government might need to contact Microsoft and get some of the information to make sure you were not planning anything bad that will hurt others. We have the right to free speech. But we do not have the right to act on crazy things. Like killing people. You see what I’m saying?
No, you have no clue as to what I am saying. I see that you are a drone and haven’t any idea about what freedom of speech or privacy is about. You are confusing speech with actions and apparently can’t seperate the two concepts. You go ahead and walk through your life with your head in the sand. I pity people like you.
Also, once again, they have no such inherent legal ‘right’ to save, listen, or share as you keep saying. Just because they put a line in their privacy policy does not mean they have the legal right to do so. They get away with it because few people actually read the TOS before signing up for a service.
Microsoft does not need any employee listening in any of your call because voice recognition is already a mature technique and they can (maybe already) deploy it.
Besides the IT giant its own ambition, many government agents also required backdoor codes implanted in the messaging softwares like skypegoogle voice, so they can monitoring “terrorists” more easily.
You did nothing wrong/illegal does not mean you need to give up any part of your private. On the contrary, one should insist his own and others private not to be violated.
Umm . . . this is the 21st century . . . why are we still using unencrypted Skype? Hasn’t somebody by now came up with an encrypted stream system so even the middle guys (Microsoft in Skype’s case) can’t even read the data, without the proper keys? And forget about the government getting access, it would just be garbled data to them. Wow, we are a very trusting people, even to the people that have been known to be untrustworthy of our private data.