4 ms·
Sponsored by the NSA? Some of the weird tech acquisitions start making sense when the NSA is factored in; Motorola, Skype, anything else? It's completely possib
by Geee 13y ago
Sponsored by the NSA? Some of the weird tech acquisitions start making sense when the NSA is factored in; Motorola, Skype, anything else? It's completely possible in this time and age to have back-doored hardware in Motorola phones, so I think everyone should advice against buying those.
- mathgorges 13y agoIf I recall correctly Skype was working with the NSA before it was acquired by anyone.
- Geee 13y agoMicrosoft changed Skype's architecture drastically, which helps making wiretapping easier. See HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4254925 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4254925
- sz4kerto 13y agoWiretapping was possible even before MS has re-engineered Skype. The main reason behind using central servers is to increase reliability and decrease power usage on mobile devices (as they do not need to serve as supernodes anymore).
- gcb0 13y agoThe article does mention that the p2p functionality was impossible to wiretap if both parties were in a secure network. So yes, the super node made 100% of Skype vulnerable.
- MacsHeadroom 13y ago>Wiretapping was possible even before MS has re-engineered Skype. Wrong. Skype was bullet proof, completely end-to-end encrypted, before the MS takeover.
- martey 13y agoDo you have a source for this? Before Skype was acquired by Microsoft, several news articles suggested that it was possible for Skype to allow governments to monitor conversations. http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Speculation-over-back-door-in-Skype-736607.html http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Speculation-over-...
- sz4kerto 13y agoNo, by the time MS acquired them they were already wiretappable (if this is an existing English word).
- flyinRyan 13y agoThis is not completely true. Even back then, certain computers running skype could become "super nodes" that handled incoming connections to devices e.g. behind NAT. All you needed to do to wiretap was become one of these nodes, which wasn't hard to do. But yes, if you made sure neither computer had NAT and used no super nodes it was possible to be pretty protected (except for the problem that PRISM is tied to the network hardware and can read anything anywhere on the internet).
- spoiledtechie 13y agoDarpa also put out a contract before the MSoft acquisition to try and break into Skype Calls properly...
- psbp 13y agoSo what are we suppose to buy?
- Geee 13y agoMaybe a HTC or other non-US device with CyanegonMod would be a better choice.
- CaptainZapp 13y agoI'm currently using a Nokia N900. I have a brand new N9 in reserve if that one croaks. After those I'm seriously considering moving back to a super primitive phone. Nothing really smart, but adequate to make phone calls, send an sms and maybe containing a small, built in calendar. Maybe keep a relatively cheap, WiFi capable smart phone to take on vacation in order to avoid dodgy internet cafes, when I want to send mail, book a flight, or reserve a hotel room on the go. It has not even so much to do with the recent scandals (alas I am very privacy concious, I "deleted" my Facebook account and try to avoid Google as far as possible), but with the fact that the recent generation of smartphones, be it Android, or IOs, seem to own me and not vice versa. I have not the faintest idea what's going on, what is installed and who relentlessly sucks up my most private data. Sure, that doesn't work for everybody, but if I look at my own usage patterns I honestly believe it's fine for me. And the inconvenience far outweighs that queasy feeling I get with newer smartphones.
- gcb0 13y agoMotto phones already phone home all your credentials, remember? Even without the nsa asking probably.