Mouse with an ear : Vonage is getting all hot and heavy about Skype’s refusal to comply with emergency calling rules in the UK

Jokingly : "Hello, hello, is this the fire-brigade ? Can you hear me ? I am calling you over Skype to let you know that my house is on fire and I am getting killed by burglars as we speak and can you give me my bank account statement please, because I need to know how much money to transfer via my creditcard over paypal to Skype. I live in Nigeria yes and I work on the Ebay helpdesk". What a joke...

The point is that on a system such as skype you can't know or detect or prove who you are talking to. Nobody can provide you with a proper audit-trail if needed. Skype is prone to identity-theft (it's the perfect tool for it), it can be ab-use in different ways, it's virtually untraceable (especially if you combine it with other anonymizers) and the account that are setup can be immediately activated without external authentication. Some Skype phones have no sim-cards either... So it's the perfect tool for anonymous communications.

The first companies that throws on the public market a software-tool that shows the trail that that a skype follows from point A to point B for his communication will make a lot of money. Some organization need and want to perform audits on ongoing communications. The Chinese government is just one of those who made Skype via Tom.com comply with this regulation. Simple.

I wonder if this technology could be made or has been made available to other parties. If that would be the case, then let it be clearly documented.

and now listen to the Vonage rant.. on Friday Links: Vonage, Skype and more