Skype Apparently Threatens Russian National Security

Mr.Bananas writes "Reuters reports that 'Russia's most powerful business lobby moved to clamp down on Skype and its peers this week, telling lawmakers that the Internet phone services are a threat to Russian businesses and to national security.' The lobby, closely associated with Putin's political party, cites concerns of 'a likely and uncontrolled fall in profits for the core telecom operators,' as well as a fear that law enforcement agencies have thus far been unable to listen in on Skype conversations due to its 256-bit encryption."

Comments

Russia's most powerful business lobby?

[Jeremy Erwin]

Would that be the Russian Business Network?

In Soviet Russia...

[Utopia Tree]

National Security threatens Skype

Re:Security?

[plover]

You remind me of this old cold-war era joke:

American tourist: Of course our technology is better than yours. Why in America, if we need the police on the telephone, we just dial 911 from anywhere.

Russian: We have you beat! In Russia, we don't even have to dial!

Re:well, at least they're honest

[CarpetShark]

it's interesting that, unlike when this sort of stuff happens in the US or Europe, they actually came out and said the real reason: "concerns of 'a likely and uncontrolled fall in profits

It's great how that at least never happens in the west. Imagine if, just because of greed and redundant business models, the RIAA et al were allowed to bitch about lost income.

Re:I have to wonder

[Fred_A]

The U.S. stopped wearing the white hat long ago... sad.

Come on, you know how hard it is to keep a white hat white. What did you expect. You should be glad it only turned greyish, they could have put it in the wrong laundry basket...