Did Skype Give a Private Company Data on Teen WikiLeaks Supporter Without a Warrant?

By Ryan Gallagher


Skype’s privacy credentials took a hit in July over a refusal to comment on whether it could eavesdrop on conversations. Now the Internet chat service is facing another privacy-related backlash—after allegedly handing over user data without a warrant to a private security firm investigating pro-WikiLeaks activists.

 

The explosive details were contained in a report by Dutch investigative journalist Brenno de Winter, published on NU.nl earlier this week. Citing an internal police file detailing an investigation called “Operation Talang,” Winter wrote that PayPal was attempting to track down activists affiliated with the hacker collective Anonymous. The hackers had attacked the PayPal website following the company’s controversial decision to block payments to WikiLeaks in December 2010.

 

As part of that investigation, PayPal apparently hired the private security company iSight to help find those responsible. Headquartered in Texas and with a European base in Amsterdam, iSight describes itself as a “global cyber intelligence firm” that “supports leading federal and commercial entities with targeted and unique insights necessary to manage cyber risks.” iSight’s Netherlands-based director of global research, Joep Gommers, followed an online trail in an effort to track down the hackers, ultimately leading to a number of Dutch citizens, among them a 16-year-old boy operating under a pseudonym. Gommers reportedly contacted Skype, also a client of iSight, and requested account data about the teenager. According to Winter’s report, “the police file notes that Skype handed over the suspect's personal information, such as his user name, real name, e-mail addresses and the home address used for payment.” It adds that Skype disclosed the information voluntarily, “without a court order, as would usually be required.”

Full Article Here: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/11/09/skype_gave_data_...

Views: 39

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

That capability at any time could be turned around on the American people and no American would have any privacy left, such [is] the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter.”

“There would be no place to hide. If this government ever became a tyrant, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology.”

Senator Frank Church
First Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee
August 17, 1975

Have you ever heard of a Yottabyte? To put this number into perspective consider the size of a terabyte, which is about the size of a typical modern hard drive. It can hold roughly 100 high definition DVD’s.

A yottabyte is 1,099,511,627,776 terabytes – or over 1 trillion terabytes of information.

This is important because according to a recent report from Politico, the National Security Agency (NSA), which is the security apparatus responsible for monitoring electronic communications across the globe, is building a new data warehousing center in Utah at the cost of $2 billion dollars. It will be housed in a one million square foot complex and be capable of storing at least one yottabyte of data.

We pointed out the various ways that the U.S. government is monitoring everything you do when we penned Americans, Everything You Do Is Monitored. Some of the feedback we received at the time indicated that many Americans still didn’t believe that the NSA, CIA, FBI and other US government agencies had the capabilities to do such a thing.

It turns out they do, and as Senator Church said in 1975, the technology even then was capable of imposing total tyranny. Imagine how far along they’ve come in 35 years:   :/

 http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/were-watching-you-surveillanc...

RSS

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

cheeki kea commented on Doc Vega's blog post Department of Justice Crumbling Under the Pending Occupation by the Trump Administration!
"And it's about time we had some honest and balanced action. Here's what AI images dreamed…"
yesterday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
yesterday
Doc Vega posted a photo

main-qimg-6a080d2afce4004157ca1346e8c686c8

Two sodomites frolicking under the sheets as the nation burns!
yesterday
cheeki kea posted a video

Neil Oliver STUNNED as Dutch Official Reveals Covid-19 Was 'MILITARY Operation' in SHOCK Admission

Neil Oliver reacts after a top Dutch government official has admitted 'Covid' was a military operation.#gbnews #uknews #covid #coronavirus #covid19 Keep up t...
Sunday
tjdavis posted blog posts
Sunday
tjdavis commented on tjdavis's video
Sunday
tjdavis posted videos
Sunday
tjdavis posted photos
Sunday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Saturday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post What Will happen When Robot Brides Replace Human Marriage?
"Less Prone thanks for your support Buddy! "
Friday
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's video
Thursday
Less Prone posted a photo

Social Engineering 101

That's how it goes.
Thursday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

A Prelude to WW III ? It Seems There We Are Trailblazing Idiocy into More Blood and Destruction!

They're rolling out the 25th Amendment trying to stop Joe Biden from insanely thrusting the US in a…See More
Thursday
Less Prone posted a video

Chris Langan - The Interview THEY Didn't Want You To See - CTMU [Full Version; Timestamps]

DW Description: Chris Langan is known to have the highest IQ in the world, somewhere between 195 and 210. To give you an idea of what this means, the average...
Nov 20
Doc Vega posted a blog post

RFK Jr. Appoinment Rocks the World of the Federal Health Agncies and The Big Pharma Profits!

The Appointment by Trump as Secretary of HHS has sent shockwaves through the federal government…See More
Nov 19
tjdavis posted a video

Somewhere in California.

Tom Waites and Iggy Pop meet in a midnight diner in Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes.
Nov 19
cheeki kea commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thumbnail

1 possible 1

"It's possible, but less likely. said the cat."
Nov 18
cheeki kea posted a photo
Nov 18
tjdavis posted a blog post
Nov 18
Tori Kovach commented on cheeki kea's photo
Thumbnail

You are wrong, all of you.

"BECAUSE TARIFFS WILL PUT MONEY IN YOUR POCKETS!"
Nov 17

© 2024   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted