Worried about eavesdropping? Worry less with Skype.

Reuters' reports Jörg Ziercke, president of Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (Bundeskriminalamts or BKA) said:

German police are unable to decipher the encryption used in the Internet telephone software Skype to monitor calls by suspected criminals and terrorists

Ziercke spoke at this week's Fall Session 2007 of "Internet crime scene-a global challenge to the internal security."

Quotes from the Reuters story:

• "The encryption with Skype telephone software ... creates grave difficulties for us,"

• "We can't decipher it. That's why we're talking about source telecommunication surveillance -- that is, getting to the source before encryption or after it's been decrypted."

• "There are no discussions with Skype. I don't think that would help," he said, adding that he did not want to harm the competitiveness of any company. "I don't think that any provider would go for that."

From a related Reuters story, terrorists use social media to educate, motivate, and collaborate.

I've long Skyped with people who assume their email and phone calls are surveilled by their government, employer, industrial competitors or criminals. So they appreciate Skype-level privacy, courtesy of end-to-end strong encryption.

In counterpoint, Skype's 3 Skypephone + iSkoot strategy, where the iSkoot half of a conversation is not encrypted, erodes public trust in Skype's confidentiality and security.