The Internet isn't really anonymous (untraceable)
Why is it that people think the Internet is untraceable? Most protocols are for the most part fairly safe, but it is not as anonymous as you think it is. It's just like anonymous Internet surveys as a friend asked about just recently. Anonymous surveys can still be traced to an IP address, where it can be associated to a computer where some human being had to interact with it.
Similarly, just like this guy who thought Skype was anonymous.
Now really. There's probably no doubt that the authorities were working with Skype. Especially that it's now owned by Ebay. But what in this great land would lead you to believe that VoIP is any more untraceable or anonymous than a mobile phone is beyond me. If there is a communication packet that travels any sort of distance between two pieces of hardware that are non-securable then it's traceable. That basically defines practically every electronic communication device under the sun. Yes, I said, "practically every".
Before people get all hissy about technicalities, it is true that there are ways to delete the packet, spoof the origination address, and perhaps cover your tracks thoroughly. There are also ways to obfuscate data and lead people down the wrong path. But with enough time, everything pretty much can be recreated. It is the Internet after all, not a couple tubes tied together as some of our U.S. Senators would like us to believe.
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well, in the very least i'm hoping that skype won't hand over data to the feds without a warrant like those suckups with ma bell.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure this was legitimate snooping, but who knows. Maybe cryptome will turn up that Skype just handed the guy over. Hopefully not, but who knows. With eBay at the helm, it's difficult to say where it's at currently.