Skype’s China Spying Sparks Anger

From Reuters:

Savvy Internet users in China began avoiding the version of Skype offered by its Chinese partner two years ago, but news it filtered and recorded text messages has sparked new worries about the global firm’s commitment to privacy.

The U.S.-owned Web communications firm faces a backlash at home and in China for apparently allowing core principles to be compromised in order to meet the demands of Chinese censors, analysts warned.

“We may never know whether some of those people whose conversations were logged have gone to jail or have had their lives ruined in various ways as a result of this,” said Rebecca MacKinnon, an Internet expert at Hong Kong University.

“This is a big blow to Skype’s credibility, despite the fact that Skype executives are downplaying it as not such a big deal.”

Read also Skype messes up, badly by Rebecca MacKinnon.

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