Skype Surveillance
The German police are having trouble monitoring Skype conversations of suspected criminals because of encryption. There has always been a tension between the use of encryption to protect privacy and the need for governments to track illegal activities. Striking the right balance is culture-specific. What works in the U.S., for example, may not work in Germany which has strict anti-surveillance laws. Gizmodo reports:
"We can't decipher it," says Joerg Ziercke, President of the BKA, Germany's Federal Police Office. "That's why we're talking about source telecommunication surveillance — that is, getting to the source before encryption or after it's been decrypted." He does not, however, advocate that the Talinn-based internet company gave law enforcers its encryption keys.
Getting to the source means bugging computers with Trojans. I wonder if case law governing bugging phones will carry over to VoIP, at least in the U.S. Public access computers are analogous to public pay phones, every conversation, not just suspects, could be monitored. I can't imagine that would stand up in court but if anyone is familiar with relevant case law or legislation on this, I'd be interested to hear about it.
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