Internet phone and video chat service Skype – now a Microsoft subsidiary – is the latest Internet company to come under fire over alleged ties with the US National Security Agency.
In the past Skype had a reputation for protecting its users’ privacy with its Web site, boasting it had “highly secure end-to-end encryption.”
Now Luxembourg’s data protection commissioner is reportedly investigating Skype, which is headquartered in Luxembourg.
Luxembourg’s constitution enshrines the right to privacy and states that secrecy of correspondence is inviolable.
Skype could face criminal and administrative sanctions, including fines, if the investigation finds it colluded secretly with the NSA’s PRISM data collection program.
A 2012 letter from Skype’s corporate vice president Mark Gillett allegedly implies the company could help law enforcement bodies obtain access to group video calls and instant messages, but not one-to-one video calls, using Skype’s desktop client.
