TOM Skype - Adware / Malware (why does Skype coope...

Question

Hello,
This is a repost, since this was not answered in roughly the last two years since it was posted. I would link to the old post, but it seems that it's "not permitted in this community" when I try to link to it.
The old post was posted in 2009, and had included several other users also asking for an explanation.
"It's disturbing to me that Skype can claim to care about privacy, security, and trust, while cooperating with a company like TOM. What's worse - if you type "skype.com" in your browser in China, you get redirected to the skype.tom.com site.
TOM skype includes advertisements, malware, and spyware, and there have even been reports of trojans being bundled with it available from the tom-skype website. This obviously goes completely against the principles that skype claims to embrace.
Anyone from Skype have an explanation for this? I personally love Skype - but it boggles my mind that there could possibly be justification for cooperation with an unethical company like TOM. "
"This is true and completely unacceptable. Skype, downloaded from China, not only features constant adware (much of it unsuitable for children btw, not to mention extremely irritating), but also allows dodgy advertisers to send chat messages. It is hugely disappointing, and a huge blow to skype's integrity. Completely unprofessional. The re-directing trick (there is no warning at any stage that the user is downloading a different product) borders on criminality. "
"that is nothing compared to my experience.
after doing a system reinstall and trying to download skype from china, i got sent to skype TOM via the redirect, installed it, and then found that i could no longer use my bought and paid for skype credit.
i was told my call could not be completed, and asked to buy new credit in the form of RMB.
i am now downloading a normal copy of skype from p2p, hope this does the trick.
I am VERY, VERY, dissapointed. "
"Why are they so bloody ignorant. they don't care for their users. I hope they be doomed soon. this Skype Tom is SO Fckn Irritating....They should DIE!!! "
"The truth is, Skype participated in efforts making china an unsecure place to use Skype if you use the golden keywords of "milk powder", "democracy", "communist" or whatever ..
-- link removed --"
"Forget about the political thing - it's all about economics and making money. Skype Tom is the most ridiculous partnership. I guarantee that Skype HQ doesn't know a thing about what's happening - each time i sign in i get a bunch of pseudo *beep* popping up for tom.com. It's garbage - and when i contacted skype support, they were oblivious - and didn't even seem to know what Tom.com was. Someone in Skype sold a contract and made some fast cash. The brand value was offset of course, by an amount 10x greater than that contract. "
"The worst thing is not only that I managed to circumvent the annoying Tom.skype website and download an international "Chinese" free copy of the program, the really annoying issue here is that when the last update came to place, I found it to be a bit weird that my antivirus program found some malware software in it. I'm really disappointed with this, since I believe even if you "cooperate" with Chinese authorities, you can not shove up our throats a "conveniently" manufactured lie in order to please some. We should be able to download or at least continue using the malware-free version of Skype, not this completely inappropriate excuse of a software. Sure, the quality is better than the one I used to have when using the international version, but what's the real price? "
"No one really seems to care .. How wonderful .. No comment whatsoever- If you're in china- everything you know about Skype is foul .. Security is not an option .. "
"As an expat living in shanghai, i recently reinstalled my windows operating system.
I use skype to talk to my family, and so tried reinstalling skype.
I was redirected to the TOM skype trojan site, and figuring it was just the localized version of the normal skype site, i downloaded. After running it, I realized what this was, and uninstalled.
From some basic googling i have found that TOM skype actually records, or at some point did record, your conversations. The recorded conversations were uploaded to their servers, where the China Communist Party government would then have full access to them.
This needs some answers, and is a serious breach of trust!
quote from wikipedia, feel free to see their sources:
Since September 2007, users in China trying to download the Skype software client have been redirected to the site of TOM, a joint venture between a Chinese wireless operator and Skype, from which a modified Chinese version can be downloaded.[116] The TOM client participates in China's system of Internet censorship, monitoring text messages between Skype users in China as well as messages exchanged with users outside the country.[117][118] Niklas Zennström, then chief executive of Skype, told reporters that TOM "had implemented a text filter, which is what everyone else in that market is doing. Those are the regulations." He also stated: "One thing that’s certain is that those things are in no way jeopardising the privacy or the security of any of the users."[119] In October 2008, it was reported that TOM had been saving the full message contents of some Skype text conversations on its servers, apparently focusing on conversations containing political issues such as Tibet, Falun Gong, Taiwan independence, and the Chinese Communist Party. The saved messages contain personally identifiable information about the messages' senders and recipients, including IP addresses, usernames, land line phone numbers, and the entire content of the text messages, including the time and date of each message. Information about Skype users outside China who were communicating with a TOM-Skype user was also saved. A server misconfiguration made these log files accessible to the public for a time.[118][120][121] "
I think your customers (including me) deserve an answer.

Answer 1

Of course, anything you do at an Internet bar is certainly logged and that is not really an issue (as you should be aware of that). Communicating with a user of TOM Skype though, has no warning. Additionally - Skype claims to be "safe and malware free" - but this is clearly not the case for TOM Skype - which also has a bunch of adware in it in addition to the spyware / malware..
Thank you for the response, but I would like a response from Skype support (I've been waiting for two years).