One of the officials closely related to the matter has said, though it is almost impossible to scrutinize the audio and video feeds, but the fact that the Skype has given its support will break the barrier, as Skype today is one of the most popular forms of telecommunication. In order to provide information to authorities, the company will have to make technical changes in its system. However, Skype has clarified that it has already taken necessary steps last year, after its acquisition with Microsoft. Executives of the United States and other countries have been trying hard to put this security measure in place since long and are thankful that this has taken place. They are of the view that having access to newer modes of communication is necessary in order to resolve some cases, especially the ones that the FBI calls “going dark.” Officials have appreciated the way in which Microsoft have looked at this problem and shown its consent in every way possible. One of the officials said Microsoft has handled this issue with “tremendous sensitivity and a canny awareness of what the issues would be” and its gesture is really appreciated. He also said, “The company has had a long track record of working successfully with law enforcement here and internationally.” Though this step of giving access to addresses and credit card numbers have gained lots of praise from security officials, but activists and analysts are not really happy with company’s this move. Authorities who have always been complaining that because of the sites like that of Skype it has almost become impossible for them to track activities of drug lords, pedophiles and terrorists. But with Skype’s decision of giving in the system this all may be possible. Hackers and privacy experts are of the view that over the past months Skype has made efforts to change its technology, which will make it easy for the government to track unethical movements. “The issue is, to what extent our communications are being purpose-built to make surveillance easy?” said Lauren Weinstein, co-founder of People for Internet Responsibility, a digital privacy group. “When you make it easy to do, law enforcement is going to want to use it more and more. If you build it, they will come.’’
