Fellow Avalonians,
I myself am not a Skype user -- I currently don't even own any of the equipment needed for using Skype (such as a microphone/headset or a webcam) -- and the information I will be sharing in this post is actually not exactly new, but it is my impression that most users of the Skype platform are either largely or completely unaware of the security and privacy implications associated with this software.
I know that there are many people here on Avalon who use Skype rather routinely, and that Bill, the mods and the Avalon Healing Group extensively make use of Skype for their conferencing needs. This is why I felt that I needed to bring some very alarming facts to the attention of the people here on Avalon who make use of this software.
Now, as I said higher up, I myself am not using Skype, but the matter came to my attention through a question from a poster in the alt.os.linux.ubuntu newsgroup on Usenet regarding the security and privacy of the Skype communication software.
The following indented and italicized paragraphs are only but a few excerpts from the Wikipedia article on Skype...:
Wikipedia also has a separate article on Skype security, in which, among many other things, we read the following...:
Security researchers Biondi and Desclaux have speculated that Skype may have a back door, since Skype sends traffic even when it is turned off and because Skype has taken extreme measures to obfuscate their traffic and functioning of their program.
[...]
Some time before Skype was sold in 2009, the company had started its own program, called Project Chess, to explore legal and technical ways to easily share calls with intelligence agencies and law enforcement.
[...]
In November 2010, a flaw was disclosed to Skype that showed how hackers could secretly track any user's IP address. As of 2013, this has still not been fixed.
[...]
According to a 2012 Washington Post article, Skype "has expanded its cooperation with law enforcement authorities to make online chats and other user information available to police"; the article additionally mentions Skype made changes to allow authorities access to addresses and credit card numbers.
13 November 2012, a Russian user published a flaw in Skype's security, which allowed any person to take over a Skype account knowing only the victim's email by following 7 steps. This vulnerability was claimed to exist for months, and existed for more than 12 hours since published widely.
14 May 2013, it was documented that a URL sent via a Skype instant messaging session was usurped by the Skype service and subsequently used in a HTTP HEAD query originating from an IP address registered to Microsoft in Redmond (the IP address used was 65.52.100.214). The Microsoft query used the full URL supplied in the IM conversation, and was generated by a previously undocumented security service. Security experts speculate the action was triggered by a technology similar to Microsoft's SmartScreen Filter used in its browsers.
The 2013 mass surveillance disclosures revealed that agencies such as the NSA and the FBI have the ability to eavesdrop on Skype, including the monitoring and storage of text and video calls and file transfers. The PRISM surveillance program, which requires FISA court authorization, reportedly has allowed the NSA unfettered access to its data center supernodes. According to the leaked documents, integration work began in November 2010, but it was not until February 2011 that the company was served with a directive to comply signed by the attorney general, with NSA documents showing that collection began on 31 March 2011.
I recommend reading through both Wikipedia articles in their entirety so as to get a grip on all the risks associated with Skype. In addition to that, I would also like to point out -- as should already have become clear via the above quotes -- that Skype is currently owned by Microsoft, a company whose founder and former CEO Bill Gates has ties to the Illuminati...:
Chinese, Russian and United States law enforcement agencies have the ability to eavesdrop on Skype conversations, as well as have access to Skype users geographic locations. In many cases, simple request for information is sufficient, and no court approval is needed. This ability was deliberately added by Microsoft after Skype purchase in 2011 for the law enforcement agencies around the world. This is implemented through switching the Skype client for a particular user account from the client side encryption to the server side encryption, allowing dissemination of an unencrypted data stream.
- Bill Gates' father, William Henry Gates II, used to own (and possibly still owns) a law firm which represents the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Bush family, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, and other Illuminati-related financial institutions and families.
- Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Braun are registered members of the Bilderberg Group.
- Bill Gates is a proponent of depopulation through the sterilizing of people (predominantly in so-called developing nations) by way of vaccines.
The bottom line is that Skype is something best stayed away from. There are alternatives via the Free & Open Source Software community, but they are most likely not compatible with the proprietary protocols used by Skype -- which, considering all the security and privacy implications, is only for the better -- and I know that it would probably be a hell of a job to get all of your contacts to convert to another communications platform.
However, you don't really need to do that for those contacts where your usage of Skype is limited to communications with a low security and privacy concern. For anything more serious -- and especially the more sensitive stuff discussed in alternative communities such as Avalon -- I heartily do recommend choosing one of the Free & Open Source Software alternatives instead. (Note: These alternatives exist for all of the popular computer platforms, so one does not need to also switch one's computer operating system of choice.)
Namaste.