The popular communication tool Skype is a very living entity. Proof of this is its own evolution since 2008, when it was a video call tool for computers that used P2P connections (peer to peer or from computer to computer). However, new technologies have also affected its history, expanding its possibilities with portable devices and making use of technology of the cloud or the Internet. Questions that have brought with them new functions and ways of being in contact through Skype, but also the problem ofEavesdropping and Privacy
And the issue is still hot after discovering earlier this year how far the US government is capable of going and his program PRISM of listeners. Something that of course did not worry the users of Skype for computers in its beginnings thanks, precisely, to its architecture or use of the P2P connections, which prevented the transmission of information and video calls through servers. They only connected and sent information between the interlocutors. But years have passed and Skype has evolved trying to compete as a communication tool and accommodate current platforms.
Something they don't hesitate to praise from Microsoft, the company that owns Skype They do so through a publication on their official blog where the Vice President of Skype, Mark Gillett, recounts the technological advances that this tool has received. An evolution that goes from improving the quality of video calls, to the new functions and features that have led to Skype to become a useful application for smartphones and tablets A evolution in which the cloud or technology that makes use of the Internet not only to transmit information has a lot to do.
This is how Gillet talks about issues like reducing battery consumption When carrying out a large part of the application procedures on the Internet and not on the devices, the possibility of leaving the tool running in the background and receiving notificationswhen there is a pending message, not losing information by being able to synchronize with the cloud from any device and a long etcetera more than the Internet technology has made it possible to offer SkypeThe problem comes from more critical thinking about evolution, the use of the cloud and the protection of users' privacy
And it is that Microsoft has been one of the companies accused of having allowed access to information from the video calls to the US government surveillance service PRISM. An issue that with P2P technology was not possible, but that the cloud would allow. Something about which Microsoft has already stated “not being able to discuss more freely” That yes, Gillett does not hesitate to state that they have strong security measures, both physical and technical and administrative, to protect the information and data of its users. Measures that encrypt and protect said data behind codes and that are never stored in their servers (cloud) in full.
Of course it is not possible to affirm that the government of United States is monitoring all the conversations that are carried out throughSkype In addition, it is a fact that the cloud offers all these new functions and features to a tool of Really useful communication for both personal and professional contact. However, it is worth asking to what extent being able to control user information is useful to offer a personal and practical service. Even more so when planning the doubt of government espionage.
