Fergie's Tech Blog

Skype Communications Protocol Possibly Cracked

Anders Bylund writes on ARS Technica:

A blog following VoIP developments is reporting on a personal experience with what appears to be the first third-party Skype client. The blog post describes an unreliable but working connection made from China to a standard Skype client in the US, along with supporting evidence such as the (obviously modified) screenshot below.

The new client is supposedly under heavy development by a Chinese company, and intrepid blogger Charlie Paglee notes that it may turn Skype from something evil and illegal in the eyes of the Chinese government to a national point of pride: "I wouldn't be surprised if a major Chinese telco ends up licensing this technology to produce a competing Skype client for use in China. [...] They reverse engineered a protocol that was not protected by patent. They will be seen as heroes in China and it is unlikely the government will ever take action against them."

posted by Fergie @ 7/14/2006 10:35:00 AM