Skype users monitored in China

Surveillance has been uncovered in the Chinese version of Skype, an Internet-based phone and messaging service, reports the media.

Human-rights activists and computer security researchers, in their report on TOM-Skype, have discovered a major surveillance system that monitors and archives certain Internet text conversations that include politically charged words., reports the New York Times.

The researchers, from the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, say the list includes words related to the Falun Gong, Taiwan independence, the Chinese Communist Party, as well as issues like democracy and milk powder.

Filtering conversations

More from the New York Times:

" … The list also serves as a filter to restrict text conversations. The encrypted list of words inside the Tom-Skype software blocks the transmission of those words and a copy of the message is sent to a server. The Chinese servers retained personal information about the customers who sent the messages. They also recorded chat conversations between Tom-Skype users and Skype users outside China.

" The researchers said they did not know who was operating the surveillance system, but they said they suspected that it was the Chinese wireless firm, possibly with cooperation from Chinese police …"

However a few days after the report came out, one of the researchers, Nart Villeneuve, blogged that Skype now said the monitoring was a Chinese government requirement.

Politically sensitive topics

Meanwhile, the Wall St Journal reports some Chinese users believed Skype was safe from government monitoring, and it had been widely used by dissidents, though some had been wary. They write:

<" …Chinese activists have used Skype for chat sessions and conference calls to discuss politically sensitive topics. But many say they've long been wary of TOM-Skype and prefer to use the U.S. version of the program. Some have taken the latest report as a sign there is little communication that is guaranteed to be secret in China—so they might as well stop fighting it …"

Reuters report that analysts have warned the US owned company faces a backlash for apparently allowing core principles to be compromised to meet the demands of Chinese censors.

Questions and answers

They quote Rebecca MacKinnon, from the University of Hong Kong’s journalism and media studies centre:

" "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," …"

She also has posted a blog on the issue.

Nart Villeneuve has also posted a blog answering commonly asked questions, and another one of notable quotes since the story broke.

Skype responds

And Skype's president, Josh Silverman, has also posted a response.

China's well known for its censorship of the Internet. Authorities reportedly employ between 30,000 and 50,000 special Internet police who, with the aid of Western-provided technology, read private emails, conduct surveillance, remove blogs and block banned websites.

At least 50 internet users known to be in jail in China right now, because of their online activities. Among them are Chinese journalists Shi Tao and Huang Jinqiu, pro-democracy activist and writer Yang Tongyan and dissident Wang Xiaoning.