Evildoers trust Skype encryption, Cops seek more power

BBC News reports:

Officers in Milan say organised crime, arms and drugs traffickers, and prostitution rings are turning to Skype in order to frustrate investigators.

The police say Skype's encryption system is a secret which the company refuses to share with the authorities.

Investigators have become increasingly reliant on wiretaps in recent years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan have highlighted the Skype issue.

They overheard a suspected cocaine trafficker telling an accomplice to switch to Skype in order to get details of a 2kg (4.4lb) drug consignment.

So:

1. Get your friends to use Skype!
2. Police don't like to tap PCs – harder, more dangerous for officers.
3. Police should enjoy intercepting Skype Lite for mobiles and Skypephones since gateways run by Skype or iSkoot should be convenient and safe.
4. Police and intelligence agencies in the UK (explained more recently), Germany, the US,  and now Italy are trying to pressure the public to give them more surveillance power, using Skype's encryption as the pretext.
5. Word Of Mouth Works!

tags: encryption

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142 hour marathon Skype call

142:54:50, to be precise. Just shy of six days (144 hours).

Richard and Kelly from the Netherlands kept a Skype voice call running for 143 hours from Wednesday, February 04, 2009, until 10:00AM Tuesday, February 10, 2009.  Richard sent a picture file to Kelly during the call. A system error cut the call. Richard used Skype 4.0 BETA and Kelly used Skype 3.X on Windows.

Why? "Well... to see if its possible, and we are trying now to break this record to a new record ;)"

Richard said "during the conversations we had no problem, other then after a file transfer the line went bad, so we muted the thing for one second and then it worked. We didn't think it would be a world record, but we think its great!!!"

This is a day longer than the previous record by Monty from Palmdale, California.

See also:

• Marathon Skype voice call: 66 hours 40 minutes. October 2008.
• 115 hours in a Skype call. November 2008.

tags: skype, marathon, 143, call, statistics, record

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The Skype Restructuring: Global Products, Regional Markets

Josh Silverman joined Skype as President early in the spring of 2008; since then he has been reviewing Skype's opportunities and building a team of experienced executives who can bring to Skype the products, programs and team building expertise required to operate a business with a run rate of $600MM per year, 20% contribution margins to eBay and growing at 380,000 new account registrations per day (with "real user" growth also increasing significantly).

Summarizing the past executive appointment announcements we can clearly start to see the evolution of a business structure, along with each unit's responsibilities:

• Operations: Product, Marketing, Customer Care, Support
• Technology: Engineering, Platform, Development Community
• Strategy: Partnerships, Strategic Alliances, Acquisitions
• Administration: Global Communications Human Resources. Finance, and Legal round out the top executive team.

During our interview at CES 2009 with Skype COO Scott Durschlag, he outlined details of his restructuring of Skype's Operations team along two axes: product and geography under the mantra of providing "Skype Everywhere".

Global product offerings will encompass three divisions: consumer, business and mobile, each responsible for developing products. Each of these groups will be interacting with members of CTO Daniel Berg's technology teams to convert their technology developments into marketable global product offerings and to adapt the technology to meet product marketing needs.

• Consumer will involve the current Skype client desktop offerings along with hardware, such as Skype phones.
• Business starts with the current Skype Business Control Panel but intends to expand well beyond this starting point into a range of offerings, such as Skype for Asterisk and the recently announced IBM LotusLive developments, addressing the small-to-medium business market.
• Mobile involves current products such as Skype for Windows Mobile, Skypephone (in conjunction with iSkoot), the recently launched Skype Lite (including Skype for Android) as well as any upcoming offerings for the iPhone and BlackBerry

In addition each of these divisions will be responsible for developing appropriate customer care and support programs appropriate to market demands. For instance, the business unit will come up with ongoing support programs relevant to supporting sustainable business operations of its products' users. Ideally these programs would follow the model of Red Hat for Linux or Digium for Asterisk and build up a network of resellers and VARS who would provide relevant and timely end user support. While Dan Berg's technology team will be responsible for third party developer partner support, an additional challenge for the Business products group will be to assist with marketing of business applications offered by these developer partners.

While Skype veteran Stefan Oberg is heading up the Business unit, announcements re appointments to head up Consumer and Mobile are pending.

Along the geography axis is a recognition that, while the Products divisions have a global mandate, there are different market needs within different regions of the world. For instance, in many Asian market wireless carriers do not subsidize mobile phones as is the North American practice. This requires a differentiated approach to these markets with respect to how easily innovations, especially around reduced calling costs, can be introduced to these markets.

The geographical market responsibilities are:

• Americas: Don Albert becomes General Manager, Americas. Don has had North America responsibility for a couple of years and will now be responsible for both North and South America. With respect to the latter he is looking forward to building on all the Skype activity in Brazil, for instance. (And, yes, once again at CES Don was made aware we are awaiting SkypeIn and a Skype Store for Canada)
• Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA): appointment pending
• Asia/Pacific: Yesterday we saw an announcement of the appointment of Dan Neary as General Manager, Skype Asia Pacific. One of Dan's initial responsibilities will be to build and monitor closer relationships with partners such as TOMSkype to avoid embarrassments such as that created by the TOM Skype privacy breach we have reported on last fall.

Outstanding executive appointments are expected shortly; at this point it's becoming all about execution. The next six months will tell the story.

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Skype COO Outlines Skype's Software Guidelines

During our conversations with Skype COO Scott Durschlag last week at CES, Scott outlined Skype' criteria for its software development going forward.

First was the emphasis on "liquid communications" through statements such as "Skype Whenever, Wherever". Just as today you can pick up any PC or mobile platform and find all the Google Tools (Search, Maps, News, Reader, etc.). Skype wants to be on virtually any platform or device.

Pick up a smartphone, find the Skype button. Turn on the TV, find a Skype button, have a conversation. Open a web browser; start a Skype session. All this to complement Skype on the desktop. Today, besides on the desktop, you can find Skype on over 200 mobile phone handsets, several (Sony) mobile devices, Skypephone and Apple TV. But Scott emphasized, this is only the beginning. It will only start to get real when we see Skype on higher profile devices such as the iPhone and BlackBerry or when we start to see Skype seriously back into the hardware device business with vendors such as Philips and iPevo.

Then Scott outlined four benchmark criteria that every implementation of a Skype on any platform or device must meet:

• High call quality
• Simple and easy user interface
• Consideration for battery life
• Security

Last week's hotfix upgrade of Skype for Windows 4 beta 3 included the first implementation of Skype's three year effort to develop the SILK codec, increasing the audio bandwidth to 12 KHz while effectively reducing the Internet bandwidth consumed during a Skype call.

A key reason for Skype's rapid and widespread adoption has been associated with its ease-of-use. Yet Scott says the Skype conversation user experience needs to be even easier to encourage adoption by a broader user base. Developing a more effective user interface has certainly been a focus of the Skype for Windows 4 beta program. At the Skype CES press conference Scott reported that, in a recent survey of users, 88% preferred the new UI to the previous Skype for Windows 3.8. But I'm still wondering if the Skype for Windows team could take a look at Skype for Mac and implement a "drawer" type interface to manage and select the active conversation. For the longer term evolution of Skype clients hopefully Skype also has a look at Dan York's post on Skype's fragmented product strategy.

Battery life on smartphones was a key issue that prevented Truphone, who uses a native VoIP client for calls over WiFi, from launching a native VoIP smartphone client running over 3G networks. Instead they launched Truphone Anywhere that takes advantage of the underlying network 3G GSM voice channel and uses the data channel to set up a call via a server that, in turn, sets up a VoIP client. That voice channel tends to make much less use of the device battery than a constantly compressing/decompressing VoIP client that devours the underlying processor activity. Addressing the battery life issue is a major reason why we see Skype using a similar calling architecture when launching the Skype Lite Java client on over 100 Java-enabled cell phones, including those based on Google Android.

Security is an issue that I'll leave to Dan York and others who are able to cover this issue more knowledgeably and effectively. Suffice it to say that we would expect security to continue to be a feature of all Skype products, including those that use the mobile voice channel for placing calls from mobile phones.

Two take-aways from these statements:

• Fundamentally we should expect Skype, going forward, to be a provider of real time conversation-enabling software on desktop, web, TV and mobile platforms. To use an old telegraphy term: Full Stop! For instance, rather than developing their own social network, we should expect Skype to seek out agreements with other social network service providers, such as the MySpace agreement. Skype is an enabler of real time conversations; it is not in the community building or social networking business. Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, amongst others have already captured that space and done an excellent job at it.
• These benchmarks also provide a basis not only for deciding what product offerings Skype will develop but also when they are in a position to release a product.

The new Skype executive team is finally starting to set some benchmarks and guidelines against which we can not only measure executed performance but also have a better understanding of where Skype wants to go.

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Skype at CES 2009: Initial Steps Towards Liquid Communication

At a Skype's CES 2009 press conference today recently appointed COO Scott Durschlag provided the first hints of a vision statement for Skype under its new executive team along with some initial software offerings that hint at the direction Skype is taking towards "liquid communications" or "Skype Whenever, Wherever".

In leading up to the new software announcements, Scott made a few points about Skype's recent accomplishments and focus going forward:

• Skype now delivers 8% of the world's telecom minutes through clients that now support 28 languages
• New software will drive a liquid experience on the desktop, web, TV and mobile devices
• A key goal is to liberate the Skype experience from a captive device (desktop) to more user aware devices (mobile, TV as well as embedded into appliances)
• 41% of Skype calls on Christmas day involved video, only to be surpassed at 47% on New Years day.
• New software offerings have to pass a bar of four basic criteria:
  
  • high call quality
  • super simple user interface
  • sensitivity to power management issues
  • security

He then went on to talk about new software offerings:

• New desktop clients: Skype for Mac 2.8 (launched as beta at Mac World Monday), Skype for Windows 4.0 (with a February release date)
• Release of Skype Lite, a thin client for Java-enabled mobile phones with Skype for Android to be available within a few days on Android Market on T-Mobile's G1^TM and Skype Lite general availability in the U.S. (in addition to several countries previously announced) resulting in Skype availability on over 100 mobile smartphones.
• Internally developed new Skype "SILK" audio codec which is twice as efficient with respect to bandwidth requirements for the audio and video experience.
• Skype for Mobile Internet Devices with a demonstration on a couple of MID platforms. (Update: access download information here.)
  
• Skype for Mac 3.0 to be available by year end with the feature set of Skype 4.0 for Windows.

This afternoon Phil and I spent an hour with Scott discussing the restructuring, support issues, the TOM Skype Breach and how Skype will work with its developer partners to provide a win-win direction for the development and marketing of partner applications. These topics will be the subject of future posts over the next week.

First impression: it's the first event where a senior Skype executive has provided in a public forum an outline of its vision, guidelines for achieving that vision and how it wants to work in the real time communication and IP-based conversation space. The real challenge now lies in the execution.

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CES rumor: Skype Lite for Android Mobile Devices

Working to confirm Skype’s Skype Lite will be available for the Android mobile operating system.

UPDATE: TechChuck seems to be quoting an embargoed CNET story no longer online:

"Skype announced on Wednesday the forthcoming release of Skype Lite for Google Android and other Java-enabled phones. Skype Lite marks the communication company's first native VoIP client for Java. Skype is submitting the app to Google's Android Market on Thursday morning, though it could take Google a few days to offer it for download."

Technorati tags: skype, android, mobile, skype lite, lite, google

Race to Provide Low Cost International Calling on Mobile Heats Up

Yesterday I wrote a post for GigaOm, Skype: Coming to a Cell Phone Near You, discussing how the announcement of two new beta versions of Skype on mobile devices gave a hint of Skype's future mobile strategy.

At the same time Truphone announced a new version of their iPhone application. Whereas the version released at the time of the Apple App Store launch back in July only supported outbound calling over WiFi access points, the new release not only supports inbound calling to your iPhone number but also makes outbound calls via the 3G carrier networks that offer the iPhone.

Innovation driven competition in delivering low cost international calling services appears to be heating up during these challenging economic times - at least for calls originating in your "home" calling country or area code(s). Here's a brief summary of what is evolving:

We've seen the evolution of two architectures for making VoIP-enabled calling from mobile devices; it's all a matter of where the calling party's Skype (or VoIP client) session is opened up - directly on the device or on a dedicated hosted server. This leads to two other considerations:

• Carrying the voice portion of the call from the mobile device into the network cloud, either via the carrier's robust and proven (GSM) voice channel or over via a WiFi access point
• The need to support Skype's instant messaging (chat and presence); this always occurs as a data activity

VoIP Client on the Mobile Device; VoIP over WiFi
Skype for Windows Mobile places the VoIP client directly onto the device. As a result the device must handle the "VoIP processing" to generate the packets that are transmitted over the supporting data network (either a carrier's 3G network or via a WiFi access point.) As mentioned previously, it places heavy demands on the device's resources, especially the processor (running at much lower speeds than on a PC) and the battery.
Truphone's original voice offering also runs on the device (usually a Nokia Smartphone). While both Skype for Windows Mobile and Truphone can run over either WiFi access points or a 3G network, it is strongly advised to use these only over WiFi access points to have a reliable, robust, high quality voice service. For instance, the Skype for Windows Mobile download page says:

• Log into Skype from any WiFi zone to make free calls and send instant messages to anyone else on Skype, anywhere in the world, any day of the week.
• WiFi connection or 3G/2G data connection (we cannot guarantee voice quality over 3G/2G. You may also be liable to additional data charges so please check with your operator before using)

Truphone's original iPhone outbound calling offering was also only available using the iPhone's WiFi capability; however, details of their architecture were never revealed.

Accessing VoIP via a Wireless Carrier
Over the past year we have seen the rise of several services that use the alternate architecture where a call is placed via a local access point to a hosted server that then opens up a Skype client. The server-based Skype client then completes the call as a Skype-to-Skype call.

While originally pioneered by iSkoot, a service using this architecture, such as Skype Lite beta, makes a call to a SIP Gateway server via a local point of presence while data about the call is concurrently sent via the underlying data network to a hosted Mobile Gateway. This dedicated gateway then sets up a Skype-to-Skype call between the SIP Gateway — now connected to your cell phone — and the destination Skype contact. Skype chat messages can also be exchanged concurrently over the data network. We are now seeing various offerings using this architecture:

• The highly successful Skypephone offered by 3 in nine countries.
• iSkoot providing service for a wide range of phones including BlackBerry, Nokia and T-Mobile's G-1.
• Truphone Anywhere: when Truphone found they could not offer a highly reliable service over 3G networks (largely due to device resource considerations), they launched Truphone Anywhere that allows Truphone calls to be made over a 2G (GSM/EDGE) or 3G (UMTS/HSPA) voice/data network as well as over WiFi access points.
• Skype for Mobile beta - Skype's first attempt to go beyond Skype for Windows Mobile onto other platforms such as Nokia N-Series and E-Series devices. This never got out of the beta phase; while you could use Skype chat anywhere, the voice service was only to be available in a limited number of countries (that did not overlap with countries where Skypephone was available).
• Skype Lite beta: building on the Skype for Mobile beta experience to a service that supports not only smartphones but also over 90 cell phones that support a Java client and include basic web browsing and data capability. According to the Skype Lite page it appears that Skype is working with carriers in ten countries to support this service.
• Truphone for iPhone 1.12 release announced yesterday: makes Truphone calls either over WiFi or any cellular network using an iPhone, building on their Truphone Anywhere experience.

Key features of these server-hosted VoIP client services:

• They are most cost effective when calling from your home country or local calling area. You could incur long distance or, when outside your home country, roaming charges that would run up quite quickly.
• An unlimited or high cap data plan minimizes costs associated with using these services.
• Only Skype provides a full Instant Messaging capability covering both chat and presence. Some Truphone offerings have shown support for SMS messaging.
• Calls to Skype or Truphone contacts are no additional cost beyond the "local" connection cost.
• Calls to the PSTN, such as SkypeOut calls, require Skype or Truphone subscriptions or credits.
  
• Calls to mobile numbers outside U.S. and Canada will still invoke the charges incurred in "caller pays" mobile services.

Why only the cost of a "local" call? Your cell phone makes a call to a local number which puts the call through to the service's SIP Gateway. At this point you connect into a Skype-to-Skype call for which there are no termination charges involved as a result of Skype's unique (and secure) peer-to-peer architecture. The same applies to Truphone where Truphone-to-Truphone calls are free.

This Skype Lite beta announcement portends that we could be seeing mobile Skype-to-Skype calling, along the lines of 3's popular Skypephone service in nine countries, become available to mobile customers having a much broader range of cell phones and in up to ten additional countries.

One other service that can be accessed from any phone is Mobivox. However, there you have to build up and manage your address book online such that VoxGirl can help you make your calls; it does not access your mobile phone address book. It's purely a voice service with no messaging component (other than using SMS to facilitate setting up calls under certain circumstances).

While we're getting a first step in driving down mobile costs for international calling, the next step needs to be finding a user-friendly way to drive out roaming costs. MaxRoam and Truphone's SIM4Travel are starting to offer some hope on this front; however, at the moment their costs for USA-Canada calls are much more than my Rogers roaming charge. The winners will feature not only lower costs but a very friendly user interface, interacting with the device address book, that also provides the most complete ranges of services in terms of coverage and complementary conversation modes, such as IM.