A research firm revealed that eBay and TOM are monitoring Skype users' text chats, storing those containing politically sensitive topics like freedom, democracy, Tibet, and Falun Gong. They also track voice call participants and presumably turn this data over to the Chinese government.
In 2005, Yahoo turned over emails to Chinese authorities, resulting in a 10 year prison sentence for a reporter who dared discuss democracy. Two years later, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang was in front of Congress apologizing.
Questions eBay should answer: When did this spying start? What users did it affect? What people have been implicated by their Skype usage and subsequently interrogated, imprisoned or executed? What will eBay do to defend these people?
Gizmo5's policy: We don't spy on calls and messages and we wouldn't give that info to any government. We encrypt calls between Gizmo5 users and have given no one the decrypt key. I challenge eBay/Skype to defend their users.
--MR
