#Microsoft #Skype's #Facebook, #Twitter accounts hacked

LOS ANGELES: The Syrian Electronic Army, an amorphous hacker collective that supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, claimed credit for hacking into the social media accounts of internet calling service Skype. 

The group also posted the contact information of Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's retiring chief executive, on its Twitter account along with the message, "You can thank Microsoft for monitoring your accounts/emails using this details. #SEA" 

That message was an apparent reference to revelations last year by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that Skype, which is owned by Microsoft, was part of the NSA's program to monitor communications through some of the biggest US internet companies. 

A message posted on Skype's official Twitter feed, apparently by the hacking group, read: "Don't use Microsoft emails (hotmail, outlook), They are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments. More details soon. #SEA" 

Similar messages were posted on Skype's official Facebook pages and on a blog on its website before being taken down in late afternoon. TheSEA later tweeted out copies of the message "for those who missed it." 

Representatives for Microsoft could not be reached for comment. 

The NSA's practices essentially made Microsoft and other technology companies partners in government surveillance efforts against private citizens in the United States and elsewhere. 

Last month Microsoft joined seven other top technology companies in pressing President Barack Obama to rein in the US government's electronic spying in a meeting at the White House. 

Media companies, including the New York Times and the BBC, have repeatedly been targeted by the Syrian Electronic Army and other hacker activist groups that deface websites and take over Twitter accounts. 

Obama and his national security team are trying to decide what recommendations to adopt from an outside panel's review of the NSA's activities. 

A US District judge in December ruled that the US government's gathering of Americans' phone records is likely unlawful and raised what he called "serious doubts" about the value of the so-called metadata counter-terrorism program. 

A second federal judge ruled later in the month that the program was constitutional, raising the likelihood that the issue will be settled by the US Supreme Court. 

This week, a monitoring group said the death toll in Syria's civil war, which began in March 2011 as peaceful protests against four decades of rule by Assad's family, had risen to at least 130,000.

#Microsoft blocks censorship of #Skype in China

Microsoft has made it harder to monitor calls and chats over its Skype phone service in China, a freedom of expression advocacy group said, as the Chinese government steps up censorship of the internet. 

Skype said it had ended an eight-year joint-venture with Hong Kong-based TOM Group - 51% owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing - and found a new partner in China. 


"After careful analysis of the new Skype, we believe that Microsoft have lifted all censorship restrictions on their China product," the advocacy group, GreatFire, said on Wednesday. 

"All user calls, chats and login information are encrypted and being communicated directly to Microsoft via HTTPS. This is a complete about-face for Microsoft from the TOM-Skype era, when all information was processed by TOM and stored by TOM on servers located in China with absolutely no privacy controls in place." 

A Microsoft spokeswoman in China declined to comment and a public relations official at Skype's Asia-Pacific regional office could not immediately be reached. 

Skype's new partner in China is Guangming Founder (GMF), a joint-venture of Beijing-based newspaper Guangming Daily and the Founder Group, a Beijing technology conglomerate established by Peking University, according to the new GMF-Skype website. 

The Skype-TOM partnership has come under criticism from rights groups for allowing censorship and surveillance. Studies have shown the TOM-Skype service was subject to blacklisted keyword checks that could trigger monitoring of its users. 

New censorship measures
Foreign internet companies must tread a careful path in China to exploit bountiful business opportunities without compromising a carefully-nurtured image as champions of open societies and free speech. 

In 2010, Google conducted a partial pull-out from China on the basis of censorship and after it suffered a serious hacking episode that the company said emanated from China. 

Google's search market share in China fell to 1.7% last month from 12% in August 2010, although its Chinese business has benefited from strong demand for its Android software. 

Websites such as those of Facebook, YouTube - which is owned by Google - and Twitter are all blocked in China by what is known as the "Great Firewall". 

The ruling Communist Party sees censorship as key to maintaining its grip on power, recognizing that social media offers a platform for citizens to air grievances and criticism of the government, a potential trigger for social unrest. 

The government unveiled new measures in September threatening jail for spreading "rumors" online. The measures mostly target domestic internet services such as Sina's Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblogging service. 

Outside China, Skype's security and privacy protection have been under the spotlight following revelations, disclosed by Edward Snowden in his leaks of US National Security Agencydocuments, that the online communication service was part of the NSA's PRISM program to monitor communications through some of America's biggest internet companies.