Skype's Backlash

This was as easy to predict as LongBlade drooling over a new PC wargame. Following revelations that Skype had allowed Chinese government monitoring of their customers' communications, Skype's Chinese customers are a bit - OK, a lot - pissed off.

The U.S.-owned Web communications firm faces a backlash at home and in China for apparently allowing core principles to be compromised in order to meet the demands of Chinese censors, analysts warned.
'We may never know whether some of those people whose conversations were logged have gone to jail or have had their lives ruined in various ways as a result of this,' said Rebecca MacKinnon, an Internet expert at Hong Kong University.
'This is a big blow to Skype's credibility, despite the fact that Skype executives are downplaying it as not such a big deal.'
Skype, with its promises of total security and privacy, has long been popular with Chinese looking to keep their conversations away from the prying eyes of government censors.