Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Skype President Addresses Chinese Privacy Breach

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    1,414
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Quoted
    1 Post(s)

    Default Skype President Addresses Chinese Privacy Breach

    You may have seen some reports in the media about a security and privacy breach in the software provided by our Chinese partner, TOM Online. I'm writing to let you know where we stand, and what we're doing to resolve the problem.

    Some brief background: In China, TOM is the majority local partner in our joint venture that brings Skype functionality to Chinese citizens. The software is distributed in China by TOM and TOM, just like any other communications company in China, has established procedures to meet local laws and regulations. These regulations include the requirement to monitor and block instant messages containing certain words deemed "offensive" by the Chinese authorities.

    It is common knowledge that censorship does exist in China and that the Chinese government has been monitoring communications in and out of the country for many years. This, in fact, is true for all forms of communication such as emails, fixed and mobile phone calls, and instant messaging between people within China and between China and other countries. TOM, like every other communications service provider operating in China, has an obligation to be compliant if they are to be able to operate in China at all.

    In April 2006, Skype publicly disclosed that TOM operated a text filter that blocked certain words in chat messages, and it also said that if the message is found unsuitable for displaying, it is simply discarded and not displayed or transmitted anywhere. It was our understanding that it was not TOM's protocol to upload and store chat messages with certain keywords, and we are now inquiring with TOM to find out why the protocol changed.

    We also learned yesterday about the existence of a security breach that made it possible for people to gain access to those stored messages on TOM's servers. We were very concerned to learn about both issues and after we urgently addressed this situation with TOM, they fixed the security breach. In addition, we are currently addressing the wider issue of the uploading and storage of certain messages with TOM.

    It's important to remind everybody that the issues highlighted in yesterday's Information Warfare Monitor / ONI Asia report refer only to communications in which one or more parties are using TOM software to conduct instant messaging. It does not affect communications where all parties are using standard Skype software. Skype-to-Skype communications are, and always have been, completely secure and private.

    I passionately believe in Skype's mission to enable the world's conversations. Allowing the world to communicate for free empowers and links people and communities everywhere. Our challenge is to bring this valuable service to people all over, including China, while being transparent to our users and staying within the boundaries of the local laws. We are committed to meet this challenge.

    Update: Josh answers some common questions about the privacy breach.
    Source: http://blogs.skype.com/en/2008/10/sk...sses_chin.html

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Stockton, CA
    Posts
    2,040
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Quoted
    1 Post(s)

    Default

    It'd really suck to live in China..
    Join the IRC! irc.rizon.net:6667/srl | SQLite (0.99rc3+) | SRL Doc | Simba Doc | Extra Simba Libraries (openSSL & sqlite3)
    Quote Originally Posted by #srl
    10:45 < Toter> daphil when can get sex anyday I want
    10:45 < Toter> he is always on #SRL
    "A programmer is just a tool which converts caffeine into code"

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    254
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Quoted
    0 Post(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Sex View Post
    It'd really suck to live in China..
    that it would, and due to the overcrowding, it would be rather confined, and also the fact they still refuse parents to have more than 2 kids(i think this is still how it is, dont quote me on this|)


    but meh, life goes on yea?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Posts
    496
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Quoted
    2 Post(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by trials6112 View Post
    that it would, and due to the overcrowding, it would be rather confined, and also the fact they still refuse parents to have more than 2 kids(i think this is still how it is, dont quote me on this|)


    but meh, life goes on yea?
    1 kid.
    Nearly maxed, woowweee.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    1,284
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Quoted
    0 Post(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by momotron View Post
    1 kid.
    Don't you have to pay tax if you have more?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    1,414
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Quoted
    1 Post(s)

    Default

    No. They kill your newly born child if you exceed the maximum amount of children you are permitted to have.
    IIRC, anyway.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    C:\Simba\Includes\
    Posts
    7,566
    Mentioned
    19 Post(s)
    Quoted
    180 Post(s)

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by RISK View Post
    No. They kill your newly born child if you exceed the maximum amount of children you are permitted to have.
    IIRC, anyway.
    Correct, and you can have one child in China. Also, iirc, they kill new borns of a certain gender if too many of them are born, or something like that.
    Away for awhile, life is keeping me busy. | Want to get my attention in a thread? @Kyle Undefined; me.
    { MSI Phoenix || SRL Stats Sigs || Paste || Scripts || Quotes || Graphics }

    When posting a bug, please post debug! Help us, help you!

    I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code. || To be the best, you've got to beat the rest. || Logic never changes, just the syntax.
    If you PM me with a stupid question or one listed in FAQ, or about a script that is not mine, I will NOT respond.


    SRL is a Library of routines made by the SRL community written for the Program Simba. We produce Scripts for the game Runescape.


  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    British Columbia, Canada
    Posts
    4,047
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Quoted
    2 Post(s)

    Default

    I lived in china for about 10 years. But DW:P They don't kill any child if you exceed the one child policy, they just make you pay about 200k in fine over x-period of time, (which isn't bad for a person that lives in a city) and it doesn't affect twins, triplet..etc So just think of it as "paying" to have extra child.
    Btw they are getting rid of the one child policy very very soon (within 10 years) due to lack of youngesters to support the elderly.

    Most cities isn't crowded, only on streets near "down town", which may get a bit crazy but its very similar to nyc's time square or toronto's eaton center; and nothing like the japanese train video you see on youtube.

    As for censoring, yes it does sucks. But its like computers at school, they block websites such as youtube and facebook, and the main difference is that they don't want you to have easy access to certain "information" (EPIC Fail btw). But if your just a normal human being with regular job and watch video or play games at home, you shouldn't feel much difference as they have many alternative sites for most of the blocked english counterparts.
    Last edited by Main; 02-03-2012 at 07:04 PM.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •