Microsoft won't comment if Skype can eavesdrop on calls

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Microsoft's Skype division is not commenting on if the Internet phone service can now eavesdrop on conversations and offer backdoors for law enforcement to wiretap online chats.

A couple of months ago, it was reported that Skype had changed the server network that handles it Internet phone calls. The reports claim that Skype, now owned by Microsoft, had ditched its previous peer-to-peer network of client-hosted supernodes in favor of 10,000 Linux-based PCs, all hosted by Microsoft.

Now some people claim that those network changes have made it easier for Skype and Microsoft to set up back doors in order for law enforcement authorities to listen in on Skype conversations. There has been more and more pressure from the US and other countries to put in such features in VOIP services such as Skype, as more criminals use these methods to communicate with each other.

Slate.com tried to get Microsoft PR person for Skype, Chaim Haas, to comment on if they now have the ability to listen on Skype chats. Haas reportedly would not give a direct comment, saying only that Skype "co-operates with law enforcement agencies as much as is legally and technically possible."

Last week, as part of its quarterly financial results, Microsoft said that Skype use jumped up 50 percent in the April-June quarter, with a whopping 115 billion minutes worth of calls generated via Skype. Microsoft plans to integrate Skype features in more and more of its products.

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