<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Is China spying on Skype users?
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>US firm admits partner stored politically sensitive text messages from online chats </TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->WASHINGTON: Skype yesterday became the latest firm in the United States to be embroiled in controversy over its operations in China, as it acknowledged that its Chinese partner had been archiving politically sensitive text messages.
Skype, the online text message and voice service owned by auction giant eBay, said it had been unaware that the Internet chat of users in China was being stored on computer servers by Chinese mobile firm TOM Online.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>SO MUCH FOR PRIVACY
'What is clear is that TOM-Skype is engaging in extensive surveillance with seemingly little regard for the security and privacy of Skype users.'
A report by The Citizen Lab, a group of computer security experts at the University of Toronto
'Great Firewall of China' gets help...from Americans
SKYPE is not the only United States company suspected of complicity in building what has been called the 'Great Firewall of China'.
Four others have been hauled before the US Congress to face a similar charge:
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>This practice directly contradicts a blog posting on Skype's website, which says the software discards the filtered messages, and neither displays nor transmits them anywhere.
The Citizen Lab, a group of computer security experts at the University of Toronto, said on Wednesday that TOM Online was spying on TOM-Skype users in China and collecting messages with specific keywords.
The team said the messages - with words such as 'Tibet', 'Communist Party' or 'democracy' - contained Internet addresses, user names and other information that could make the senders and recipients easily identifiable.
Skype, which promises its users total security and privacy, has long been popular with Chinese looking to keep their conversations away from the prying eyes of government censors.
On Thursday, Skype president Josh Silverman said the company had learnt of the message diversion only on Wednesday. It alerted TOM Online that the messages were being insecurely stored, a problem that was quickly fixed.
'In addition, we are currently addressing the wider issue of the uploading and storage of certain messages with TOM Online,' Mr Silverman wrote in a statement.
He stressed that the millions of people around the world using standard Skype software had been unaffected in the incident.
In a statement, the Hong Kong-based TOM Group, which is part of tycoon Li Ka-shing's business empire, said it was operating within Chinese laws. 'The TOM Group reiterated that as a Chinese company, we adhere to rules and regulations in China, where we operate our businesses,' the statement said. A spokesman for the company would not provide any further details.
In a 16-page report, The Citizen Lab said 'TOM-Skype is censoring and logging text chat messages that contain specific, sensitive keywords and may be engaged in more targeted surveillance.
'These text messages, along with millions of records containing personal information, are stored on insecure, publicly accessible Web servers.'
The researchers said they had gained access to eight TOM-Skype servers.
'With just one user name, it is possible to identify all the users that have sent messages to or received messages from the original user,' they said.
The team said there was no evidence that the captured data had been used by the Chinese authorities.
'This is a big blow to Skype's credibility, despite the fact that Skype executives are downplaying it as not such a big deal,' said Ms Rebecca MacKinnon, an Internet expert at the University of Hong Kong.
Some users and observers had already become suspicious of the software provided by TOM Online.
'We already knew that their software would not pass on messages with some words in them, so we understood they had some deal with the government and we avoided them,' said Mr Wang Lixiong, an author with dissident views. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>US firm admits partner stored politically sensitive text messages from online chats </TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->WASHINGTON: Skype yesterday became the latest firm in the United States to be embroiled in controversy over its operations in China, as it acknowledged that its Chinese partner had been archiving politically sensitive text messages.
Skype, the online text message and voice service owned by auction giant eBay, said it had been unaware that the Internet chat of users in China was being stored on computer servers by Chinese mobile firm TOM Online.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story --><STYLE type=text/css> #related .quote {background-color:#E7F7FF; padding:8px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;} #related .quote .headline {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:10px;font-weight:bold; border-bottom:3px double #007BFF; color:#036; text-transform:uppercase; padding-bottom:5px;} #related .quote .text {font-size:11px;color:#036;padding:5px 0px;} </STYLE>SO MUCH FOR PRIVACY
'What is clear is that TOM-Skype is engaging in extensive surveillance with seemingly little regard for the security and privacy of Skype users.'
A report by The Citizen Lab, a group of computer security experts at the University of Toronto
'Great Firewall of China' gets help...from Americans
SKYPE is not the only United States company suspected of complicity in building what has been called the 'Great Firewall of China'.
Four others have been hauled before the US Congress to face a similar charge:
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>This practice directly contradicts a blog posting on Skype's website, which says the software discards the filtered messages, and neither displays nor transmits them anywhere.
The Citizen Lab, a group of computer security experts at the University of Toronto, said on Wednesday that TOM Online was spying on TOM-Skype users in China and collecting messages with specific keywords.
The team said the messages - with words such as 'Tibet', 'Communist Party' or 'democracy' - contained Internet addresses, user names and other information that could make the senders and recipients easily identifiable.
Skype, which promises its users total security and privacy, has long been popular with Chinese looking to keep their conversations away from the prying eyes of government censors.
On Thursday, Skype president Josh Silverman said the company had learnt of the message diversion only on Wednesday. It alerted TOM Online that the messages were being insecurely stored, a problem that was quickly fixed.
'In addition, we are currently addressing the wider issue of the uploading and storage of certain messages with TOM Online,' Mr Silverman wrote in a statement.
He stressed that the millions of people around the world using standard Skype software had been unaffected in the incident.
In a statement, the Hong Kong-based TOM Group, which is part of tycoon Li Ka-shing's business empire, said it was operating within Chinese laws. 'The TOM Group reiterated that as a Chinese company, we adhere to rules and regulations in China, where we operate our businesses,' the statement said. A spokesman for the company would not provide any further details.
In a 16-page report, The Citizen Lab said 'TOM-Skype is censoring and logging text chat messages that contain specific, sensitive keywords and may be engaged in more targeted surveillance.
'These text messages, along with millions of records containing personal information, are stored on insecure, publicly accessible Web servers.'
The researchers said they had gained access to eight TOM-Skype servers.
'With just one user name, it is possible to identify all the users that have sent messages to or received messages from the original user,' they said.
The team said there was no evidence that the captured data had been used by the Chinese authorities.
'This is a big blow to Skype's credibility, despite the fact that Skype executives are downplaying it as not such a big deal,' said Ms Rebecca MacKinnon, an Internet expert at the University of Hong Kong.
Some users and observers had already become suspicious of the software provided by TOM Online.
'We already knew that their software would not pass on messages with some words in them, so we understood they had some deal with the government and we avoided them,' said Mr Wang Lixiong, an author with dissident views. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS
