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____/ Homer on Thursday 07 Jul 2011 21:33 : \____
> Verily I say unto thee, that Bob a Job spake thusly:
>
>> Skype was based in Europe until 2005.
>
> And it still is. Apparently you don't understand the difference between
> a subsidiary and a division.
>
> Microsoft made the agreement to acquire Skype in early May. Until that
> time it was a Luxembourg registered company, even throughout its various
> acquisitions, since it was merely a subsidiary of those respective
> parent companies. It will remain a Luxembourg registered company until
> the actual purchase and reincorporation by Microsoft is complete, at
> which time - for the first time in its history - it will "become an
> American company" ... i.e. Microsoft.
>
>> Since that time, its owners have included (American company) eBay
>> which (which still owns 30% of the company). Much of the remaining
>> 70% appears to have been purchased by (American company) Silver Lake
>> Partners. Skype will soon be changing hands to (American company)
>> Microsoft.
>
> None of which has any bearing on the fact that Skype Communications, S.Ã
> r.l. was incorporated in Luxembourg, and continued to be a Luxembourg
> company throughout its various acquisitions, no matter where its parent
> companies were incorporated.
>
> [quote]
> Subsidiaries are separate, distinct legal entities for the purposes of
> taxation and regulation. For this reason, they differ from divisions,
> which are businesses fully integrated within the main company, and not
> legally or otherwise distinct from it.
> [/quote]
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsidiary
>
>> So I ask, once again, is there something specific to Skype which
>> allows for "PATRIOT Act Spying"?
>
> Yes. Once Skype becomes a division of Microsoft (an American company),
> it will be subject to American Martial Law like the Patriot Act, even
> though 80% of Skype customers are not American:
>
> http://skypenumerology.blogspot.com/2011/03/number-of-skype-users.html
>
> Microsoft has already explicitly stated it will hand over EU customer's
> data to the US government, in violation of European data protection and
> privacy regulations, and has even been caught patenting technology for
> that very purpose:
>
> [quote]
> Personal information belonging to EU users of US-owned cloud-based
> services could be shared with US law enforcers without the user being
> informed, Microsoft has said.
>
> The software giant said it could not guarantee that it would not have to
> hand over EU customers' data on a new cloud service it has developed
> whilst keeping details of the data transfer secret.
>
> Cloud services allow internet users to store data online instead of
> locally.
>
> EU data protection laws state that organisations must tell people when
> they are asked to disclose their personal information.
>
> These EU provisions might conflict with obligations US-based firms, such
> as Microsoft, face under US law.
>
> The USA Patriot Act gives law enforcement authorities the right to
> access personal data held by US-based companies, regardless of where it
> is stored in the world. The Act also gives law enforcers the right to
> prevent firms informing the customer that they have had to hand over the
> information. The controversial law was established as an anti-terrorism
> tool.
> [/quote]
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/04/eu_customer_cloud_data_may_be_handed_over_by_microsoft/
>
> [quote]
> Microsoft seeks patent for spy tech for Skype
> 'Legal Intercept' would allow it to silently record VoIP communications.
>
> [quote]
> Patents are usually either completely mundane, or kinda far-fetched.
> Rarely are they entirely ominous, as is the case with one Microsoft just
> filed a method for a 3rd party to "silently record [a]
> communication"âsay, one on Skype.
>
> We don't actually have to surmise Skype, as Microsoft's filing names the
> recently-acquired VOIP darling by name. The patent's an attempt to
> address the fact that, in Microsoft's words, "Sometimes, a government or
> one of its agencies may need to monitor communications between telephone
> users." However, "Traditional techniques for silently recording
> telephone communication may not work correctly with VoIP and other
> network-based communication technology." That's a problem, for some. So
> Microsoft wants to make it easy. Their method outlines a means of
> modifying a VOIP data stream in a way that could siphon it off to a
> recording agent (say, the cops) without detection or disruption.
>
> We'd be curious to know why Microsoft is actively seeking out this
> capability on its own, rather than being forced to out of governmental
> compliance.
> [/quote]
>
> http://gizmodo.com/5815943/is-microsoft-trying-to-patent-skype-spying
>
>> Or is this simply FUD?
>
> There's certainly something for Skype customers to be fearful of,
> without a doubt, now it's in the hands of American interests.
> Especially when it's a corrupt corporation like Microsoft, that
> willingly conspires with American government spy agencies, to violate
> the civil and human rights of non-Americans.
To be fair, the US army already has even more information, including -- based on
what I learned from a reliable source -- a copy of outgoing E-mails from the UK to
the UK. There are many American army bases here, some are faslely disguised as "RAF".
- --
~~ Best of wishes
Dr. Roy S. Schestowitz (Ph.D. Medical Biophysics), Imaging Researcher
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux administration | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Editor @ http://techrights.org & Broadcaster @ http://bytesmedia.co.uk/
GPL-licensed 3-D Othello @ http://othellomaster.com
Non-profit search engine proposal @ http://iuron.com
Contact E-mail address (direct): s at schestowitz dot com
Contact Internet phone (SIP): schestowitz@xxxxxxxxx (24/7)
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