Don't expect SkypeOut calls to be anonymous
SkypeOut let's you call a regular phone number from your Skype software.
- While caller ID isn't passing anything meaningful to a caller now, the call goes through a local phone system in the same region as the called number.
A SkypeOut termination point.
At a specific time.
To a specific phone number.
From a SkypeOut user account.
Billed for a specific length of time.
To a specific payment account.
Tied to a postal address.
Three phone calls from anyone with the power of subpoena to find a caller.
So, don't assume SkypeOut will keep you anonymous if you call a regular phone number to:
- Spill the name of a covert CIA employee to a reporter
- Ask for medical help for a sensitive condition
- Report your employer for a crime
- Make prank calls
- Talk to your lawyer
- Arrange for a secret meeting with your lover
Then again, SkypeOut isn't any more vulnerable to a court order than calling from your home, office, or mobile phones.
Comments
it would be nice if the skype ID and country would be listed on the phone that one is calling. i would not mind the www.skype.com url and logo popping up on my fancy cellphone. when i would click the logo of skype the phone would automatically switch to wifi-mode. i know it's still dreaming aloud, but dreams must be changed into ideas, project and that's why we must keep saying what we really want : transparent technology.
Posted by: jan geirnaert | July 16, 2005 07:57 PM
what is the point here actually.
Posted by: callto:tropicaljantie | July 16, 2005 08:38 PM
Well let me do a simple test. I am calling my handphone in Malaysia here via my own tropicaljantie skype account.
When calling : I cannot see the caller-ID on my cellphone. It would be interesting if skype would make that visible (on normal phones with a display), for the simple reason that many people don’t take a phone-calls if they don’t know where it is coming from.
And what about the traceability?
Surely all things are traceable in theory, but how much legal, operational, administrative procedures will one have to cross to get the info of for example prank phone calls, stalkers or worse : terrorists. It’s a genuine concern!
When you connect to the internet you get an IP-number, when you connect to skype you have an ID (that must surely be traced somewhere in their database). I wonder if they have gotten requests already from government to disclose certain info.
Note that I am not a propagotor of stalking, prank phone-calls or terrorism… On the contrary. Just pinpointing some nasty issues.
For companies (you are responsible for what your staff/employees communicate) this is important. No sensible manager will allow a staff to link-up just like that to the internet to start communicating just as is. Well some companies do, but it only shows how less they know about the dangers of certain technologies. A certain protocol and standard operating procedure, policy better be in place. On that level the as-is application of skype is difficult to manage. After all : how many strangers do you want to connect to your sensitive office-data? None, I guess.
Posted by: tropicaljantie | July 16, 2005 08:55 PM
tropicaljantie, the point is caveat caller. It's easy to forget that my Internet activity is rarely as private as it seems. I want to use Skype with a healthy respect for its limits. As we go into a new political cycle in the United States, Skype may be widely used, and awareness of the legal side of its use may avoid problems for everyone.
Posted by: Phil Wolff | July 17, 2005 10:54 AM
what about SkypeOut pre-paid cards? i could buy them off-the-shelf and log in anonymously from any call center just like normal calls.
What about caller-id features for SkypeIn calls?
bye
Posted by: aleph001 | July 28, 2005 04:58 AM
Well all of this is easily defeated.. and Ive dont it... just go buy a visa gift card at your local mall.. place $50 in cash on it then you can go online and set up the contact and name information for the card.. and that is the card that is billed and referenced every time your billed.. so no tracing the billing address because you can put what ever address you want and further what ever name you want. So all they have is a skype number from
A SkypeOut termination point.
At a specific time.
To a specific phone number.
From a SkypeOut user account.
All of which has been set up on a visa gift card under any name you want.. donald duck for instatce..
Posted by: Math | June 7, 2006 04:39 PM
Someone has been using Skypeout to repeatedly prank-call my home phone late at night. I know that it is impossible to trace or block Skypeout calls, but this is really starting to get annoying. How do I proceed in tracking this prankster??
Posted by: Seth Chizeck | July 1, 2006 08:47 PM
I got about 30 prank calls today from SKYPE
How do I stop this crap
Posted by: giovanni | August 6, 2006 05:49 PM
Obviously You can trace a skype call back to where it's sent with a subpoena... That being said... If you use skype out on a pda/smartphone, setup an acount from an "Unsecured Network" they would be tracking it back to the bogus place you sent it from...
and for anyone that says good luck finding a "unsecured network" I took the bus the other day and found 9 in about 20 minutes...
Enough Said...
Posted by: IDent Unknown | September 7, 2006 09:40 AM
I think it possible to make a fully anonymous call using skype.
1) Buy a phone card (prepaid) ones.
2) Register for skype using hotmail address
3) Go to a cyber cafe
4) Call up the 1800 number in the call card.
5) Call up the number you want to dial as you would do it from the phone card
Posted by: DA | September 26, 2006 11:41 PM