Older Version of Skype Tracked Computer Data of Subscribers
An AP newswire article by Rachel Konrad, via The Mercury News, reports that:
A program used by eBay Inc.'s Skype Internet phone service collected identifying information from users' computers running an advanced version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, the software's developer said.More here.
Although executives said the data were never used for nefarious purposes and the program has been updated, some critics said the problem could have been serious.
It stemmed from a program developed by Norway-based EasyBits Software for Skype, which allows more than 170 million subscribers to place free long-distance calls to other users over the Internet.
An older version of EasyBits - when running a Windows PC with the 64-bit version of Windows - collected the serial number of the PC's main circuit board and settings stored in the PC's BIOS, which contains code for controlling keyboard, display, disk drives and other important functions.
posted by Fergie @ 2/15/2007 05:03:00 PM
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