Anti-mafia cops want Skype tapping
Euro search for tech solution
Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery
A European Union agency is investigating how to snoop on crooks using Skype and other Voice over Internet Protocol services to avoid traditional police wiretaps.
Eurojust, the EU agency dealing with judicial co-operation, is to coordinate the investigation into Voip services, such as Skype, after requests from the Direzione Nazionale Antimafia in Rome.
The purpose of Eurojust’s coordination role is to overcome the technical and judicial obstacles to the interception of internet telephony systems, taking into account the various data protection rules and civil rights.
Peer-to-peer based VoIP technologies such as Skype pose a technical challenge for surveillance because it's impossible to simply tap communications in a telephone exchange. In addition, Skype use a proprietary encryption scheme, which potentially further complicates matters. Eurojust's statement is here.
As previously reported, police in Italy and elsewhere in Europe are worried that crooks are using Skype to avoid possible mobile phone surveillance. Police in Milan reckon organised crime, arms and drugs traffickers, and prostitution rings are using Skype and other Voip services to sidestep possible wiretaps. Milan police highlighted the example of a suspected cocaine trafficker advising an accomplice to switch to Skype in order to obtain details of a 2kg drug consignment.
Following a meeting with the authorities in Milan, Eurojust Italian rep. Carmen Manfredda said: "The possibility of intercepting internet telephony will be an essential tool in the fight against international organised crime within Europe and beyond. Our aim is not to stop users from taking advantage of internet telephony, but to prevent criminals from using Skype and other systems to plan and organise their unlawful actions."
"Eurojust will make all possible efforts to coordinate and assist in the cooperation between Member States," she added. ®
COMMENTS
If the EU is so pure
Why do certified accountants keep refusing to sign the account books?
Why do individual Ministers and staff keep coming under investigation for fraud, misappropriation of funds etc?
The only reason the EU "is currently one of the few institutions standing between the UK population and our NuLab government's desire for a modern Stalinist state" is because they know that El Gordo and his cronies are the only thing stopping Joe Public realising how little power Westminster really has any more; if the true level of Brussel's control over the UK was more widely known, ANY politician who worked to keep us under the yoke of those unelected civil servants would soon get lynched.
Don't mistake the EU's "protection" of our liberties for anything other than the desire to prevent us realising how badly they are fucking us over. I'm in favor of an EU run for the people of the EU rather than the elitist few who make most of the decisions - there are a few honest people slaving away to make life better for us mere mortals, but the bastards in charge are intent on proving that some people really think they are more equal than the people they supposedly serve.
@David Hicks
Re Wikileaks, no, just informing you there is a tie up, and I also read, but cannot verify, that
skype is part of ebay
that skype have assisted LEO's where required.
I cannot find the reference to this, but it was recent, and referred to the current topic.
The Chinese Solution
I did a bit of Googling. What happens in China is this: the normal Skype client will not function in China (presumably the ISPs block it), and a modified Skype client which is, as they say, compliant with local laws and regulations, must be downloaded from the company, TOM, that is Skype's business partner in China.
That would presumably be a bit far for any European government to go.
It was back in early October, 2008 that this was in the news; the excitement of the stock market crash may have driven it out of everyone's mind.
IT infrastructure monitoring strategies
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Top 10 SIEM implementer’s checklist
Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner
Requirements Checklist for Choosing a Cloud Backup and Recovery Service Provider
