Many of us are familiar with Skype, a free Internet technology that enables one to make free phone calls to other Skype users through their computer and broadband connection. All you need is a Skype account and a USB headset plugged into your computer and you can speak to any other Skype user anywhere in the world free of charge. It also has an instant messaging component that works just like Yahoo Messenger and the multi-protocol system,  Pidgin.

It’s a terrific service, and we use it regularly to speak with our office on the other side of the pond in Massachusetts.  The sound quality is “next room” level, and the price is certainly right.

Skype, based in Europe, was purchased by eBay in 2005 for $2.6B, and has already written down another $1.4B in expenses since.  The software behind Skype is regularly updated and new features are being added all the time.  In fact, the service is so good, and the updates to the technology so effective, it is in the gun sights of security agencies all over the world at the moment.

It seems the security of the Skype VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) in the person-to-person (P2P) communications is so good that eavesdropping is virtually impossible.  With the constant updating to Skype encryption software, the possibility of eavesdropping is even further frustrated.  A bounty of sorts has been placed on Skype, and spy agencies, including the NSA (National Security Agency) in the US, is keen on having someone break the Skype code.

While one can understand why security agencies and law enforcement officials would want to be able to monitor Skype chats, it does seem to be the only bastion of privacy on the Internet today.  No one is immune to or can escape the scrutiny of the web today.  Every moment of our lives can be documented in one way or another, spied upon from above, listened in on from within.  No video is safe from YouTube today, and nothing is sacred any longer in our lives.

Skype offers the one safe haven where friends can chat without being overheard, and save money with overseas calls at the same time.  It is a dangerous world we live in, and there are, no doubt, people using the security of Skype for nefarious, if not terrorist, activities.  We all want to feel safe, and we would like to think that people everywhere will be safe, but that is not ever going to be the case.

Still, the ability to close the door and pull the shades for those few moments of unmonitored privacy in a telephone call with family and friends seems worth fighting for as that last resort.  It’s not likely to be with us too much longer, though.

The person or company that breaks the encryption of Skype communications stands to make billions.  That’s a pretty hefty incentive, and I’ve no doubt there are many working on it as these words are being written.  For that matter, eBay could stand to get all of its money back, all $4B so far, by selling Skype’s encryption to those security and law enforcement agencies.  Pretty tempting, I would think.

It will be a day of very mixed feelings on that day that occurs.