Skype Outage Dials Up Conspiracy Theories

Not everyone has been satisfied with Skype’s assertion that Microsoft’s latest patch updates caused thousands of Skype users to logout and try to log back in at the same time, crushing Skype’s login system.

Skype official types have blogged a couple of times that the long service outage was not due to an outside exploit or other malicious activity. Microsoft, for its part, has reacted with virtually a WTF to claims that for the first time ever a Windows update and restart sequence caused this kind of disruption across a peer-to-peer system that should withstand such activity.

Whenever there is controversy, people like to try and fit baffling circumstances into what they do understand. Conspiracy theories fill in the gaps where facts fear to tread, and that’s where Jabari Zakiya’s article at Free Software Magazine picks up the Skype outage thread:

“The Skype network has been a concern of government intelligence agencies since its inception because it provides a worldwide network of encrypted VoIP calls to potential

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/skype-outage-dials-up-conspiracy-theories-2007-08/feed 0 http://www.webpronews.com/isp-wiretap-day-arrives-2007-05 http://www.webpronews.com/isp-wiretap-day-arrives-2007-05#comments Mon, 14 May 2007 16:13:59 +0000 WebProNews Staff http://www.webpronews.com/?p=37642 May 14th signals the deadline for Internet service providers to be compliant with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).

If your broadband provider didn’t have the federally-approved wiretapping gear turned on before this morning, it’s probably running now. Providers of Internet access and VoIP calling services must be in compliance with CALEA as of today.

The deadline arrived along with observances from privacy advocates, who do not share the FBI’s or DoJ’s enthusiasm for CALEA’s entry into the Internet. Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing commented on the extension of wiretap law into data:

This has been the law for voice switches for over a decade, where it represents a potential holiday for dirty cops who don’t have warrants use these back-doors (and criminals and corporate espionageists who want to eavesdrop on sensitive calls). Now it’s part of our data infrastructure as well. Nice one, America.

Kevin Poulsen at Wired’s Threat Level blog demonstrated a similar lack of enthusiasm about CALEA’s drop-dead date:

It’s worth noting that the new requirements don’t alter the legal standards for law enforcement to win court orders for internet wiretaps. Fans of CALEA expansion argue that it therefore won’t increase the number of Americans under surveillance.

That’s wrong, of course. Making surveillance easier and faster gives law enforcement agencies of all stripes more reason to eschew old-fashioned police work in favor of spying.

In an ideal world, surveillance would be seen as a beneficent entity, watching for events that disrupt societal norms. The world is far from ideal, and while arguments against CALEA may be dismissed in favor of law enforcement concerns, the potential for abuse does exist.

Let’s hope the public’s desire for a safe society isn’t fulfilled by a controlled one where non-mainstream thought is checked into silence through fear.

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