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Skype rats out alleged WikiLeaks supporter without waiting for court warrant

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http://rt.com/usa/news/skype-warrant-dutch-isight-530/

Say goodbye to online service providers protecting the identities of their users. With just a bit of begging, a Texas-based intelligence firm succeeded in convincing Skype to send over sensitive account data pertaining to a teenage WikiLeaks fan.

Reports out of Amsterdam this week suggest that Microsoft-owned Skype didnt wait for a court order or warrant with a judges signature before it handed over the personal info of a 16-year-old Dutch boy. The youngster was suspected of being involved in Operation Payback, an Anonymous-endorsed initiative that targeted the servers of PayPal, Visa, Mastercard and others after those companies blocked WikiLeaks from receiving online payment backs in December 2010. When hacktivists responded to the blockade by overflowing the servers of those sites with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, PayPal asked Dallas, Texas iSIGHT Partners Inc., a self-describedglobal cyber intelligence firm, to investigate.

It appears that iSIGHT didnt have deals with just PayPal either. Skype is also a client of the online private eye, and they reached out to the chat company for assistance. Normally the court would enter the equation here and write out a warrant to try and track down that information, but the initial report by Brenno de Winter of Nu.nl reveals that investigators skipped that step.

According to English-language transcription of Winters account, the police file notes that Skype handed over the suspect's personal information, such as his user name, real name, e-mail addresses and the home address used for payment. While that in it of itself isnt all that unusual, Winter writes that Skype sent over that information voluntarily, without a court order, as would usually be required.

Joep Gommers, the senior director of global research from iSIGHT, defended the action to Winter, admitting, "On occasion, we share our research findings with relevant law enforcement parties as a public service, just as you would report what appeared to be a crime that you witnessed in your neighborhood.

In emails obtained by Winter, Gommers bragged of his findings to Dutch authorities, writing after he first received assistance from Skype, "Hey, I will have login information soon but not yet."

Skype doesnt stand by the move, though, and says any virtual handshake between one of their staffers and iSIGHT doesnt fit with the companys practices when it terms to protecting private user info.

It is our policy not to provide customer data unless we are served with valid request from legal authorities, or when legally required to do so, or in the event of a threat to physical safety, Skype said in a statement to Nu.nl. Commenting to Slate, a representative for the chat service noted that it has worked with iSIGHT in the past to combat spam and malware, but acknowledged it appears that some information may have been inappropriately passed on to Dutch authorities without our knowledge.
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7 comments
Its because skype is no more skype. Skype is now become Microsoft Skype. Its microsoft who did it.

Fuck YOU Microsoft. Don't just uninstall skype. Uninstall Windows also and switch to debian based linux ubuntu.

Damn You Microsoft SKYPE. X-(
 
Can't help but wonder if this story is bullshit. It's on no decent or reputable news or media site considering how serious it is and the story is now 5 days old so it has more than enough time. All the quotes, statements and "official" skype replies from spokepersons are lower quality sites and blogs like the way it's just copied on WJ. The only site who has a quote from a spokesperson saying info may have being released when it shouldn't is by a website that was once owned by Microsoft.
What's even stranger is Skype don't have an operational press centre or spokesperson anymore. The media and press part of Skype stopped being updated once the purchase was confirmed and now all announcements and statements go through Microsoft not Skype so I can't see how Skype would release any statement.

While it maybe true I can't believe this until I read or hear of it from a reliable source or see an official statement on the Microsoft website.
 
Say goodbye to online service providers protecting the identities of their users.
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Noooo ! Now it's from Microsoft, it's bad like all Microsoft :(

I think IRC stay the best instant-messaging protocol..
 
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