Hats off to Kathy, for helping us start a thread on Skype security — or the lack thereof. She drew our attention to…
http://missionarygeek.blogspot.com/2008/10/skype-monitored-in-china-intra-and.html
and from the NY Times, earlier this month …
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/technology/internet/02skype.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
These sites document that skype conversations are both censored AND archived in China…long suspected, but now confirmed.
Momentum also posted on this and drew a comment from Skype official press coverage. See http://www.momentum-mag.org/2008/10/tom-skype-in-china-is-being-monitored. Basically it only applies to TOM-Skype, and apparently only to chat messages, and Skype supposedly is addressing the issue. I still feel comfortable with Skype but not TOM-Skype.
I agree with Justin. Anything that is contracted is not guaranteed to be secure. In fact, encryption of any kind should be thought of much like the locks on your car. It makes it harder to get in, and you hope that they move on to an easier target.
Is it correct to assume that any of our workers in China would have TOM-skype?