
Microsoft says it's prepared to hand over Skype users' data to Russia - r0h1n
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/russia/140116/skype-ready-hand-over-user-data-russia-microsoft-says
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gtirloni
"if required by law."

How's that different from any other company? Even "secure" companies like
Fastmail and others comply if they receive a court order for information on
specific users.

Looks like an attempt to capitalize on the recent events by implicitly saying
Microsoft will share everything about every user in bulk. What a surprise.

~~~
romanovcode
I think this might be very effective tactic to make sure your data is
distributed to government services.

Think about it: Everyone is yelling on top of their lungs that Microsoft is
giving your data, as if __only __Microsoft is doing that.

Now your average Joe will think that he would be rather using other services,
e.g. Google because _he_ thinks that only Microsoft is giving away your data
ergo Google does not.

I'm not even joking, I've heard number of times stuff like _" I'm on Ubuntu
and it's Linux, suck it NSA!"_ it's not even funny.

~~~
blueskin_
...while reporting all their personal information back to Canonical and Amazon
the whole time, I guess?

I'd bet the average Ubuntu user doesn't even realise it's _possible_ to turn
off the adverts.

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coldcode
So everyone's business has to change to meet the most restrictive country's
laws? What next, the internet is ruled by sharia law? I guess thats what
happens when global companies become the only choice, no matter what your
country allows, we have to do what Elbonia wants.

~~~
Shivetya
Yes.

The US isn't exactly the open country many pretend it to be. The primary
difference seems to me, many countries openly declare they want the data, the
US just does it anyway, denying it until caught.

Companies must balance the needs to customers versus doing business at all in
some countries. Do they forgo the revenue because in some areas people are
offended? Do they forgo revenue and fire their local workers to appease groups
in other countries? As in, where does the process stop? Who is more right?

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blueskin_
Anyone who cares about being spied on abandoned Skype long, long ago. So now
governments have tools that let them spy on ordinary people, but not their
purported legal targets, who have moved on to more secure methods of
communication directly in response to dragnet-style surveillance, while if it
was kept low-key and appropriately targeted and selective, many would likely
not even know.

~~~
pawn
Before reading this thread, I was one of those unfortunate chaps who still
assumed Skype was P2P. What's the preferred alternative that's actually
secure?

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CurtMonash
Russia and the US have similar approaches to communications metadata.

News at 11.

~~~
Grue3
The difference is we don't see Snowden complaining about Russia even though he
lives here.

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dschiptsov
This shit is already a spyware (at least for Android, where it even has a
permission to modify system settings). I had 40Mb of _background_ data usage
for a 5 day (in a roaming in India, that's why I have noticed) while I _never
switched to it_.

~~~
brudgers
It is less likely you will receive calls over Skype when Skype isn't connected
and notifying the network of its location. On a desktop device notifications
can be infrequent. Mobile devices are mobile, however.

I haven't installed Skype on Android because of the permissions it requests
and for the reason that I rarely use it. But at least it's not preinstalled as
are many Google apps similarly privileged.

~~~
dschiptsov
A keep-alive TCP connection, or bunch of UDP packets is enough for that.

~~~
lucian1900
Or just Android's push service, which lets apps handle the notification and
decide what to do (unlike iOS).

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Zigurd
All providers of communications services _could_ , if they wanted to, put open
secure client software in their customers' hands that would thwart spying.

Skype made a choice. Other choices were open to them, as they are now to every
other provider of communication and storage. There is no excuse.

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darkhorn
That is another reason to use PGP.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
...or Sococo

~~~
midas007
RedPhone

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outside1234
... the same as Google or Yahoo would. No news here, move on.

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tob_h
Contains spam redirect to the iOS-AppStore

