Skip to: Site menu | Main content

Skype opens up to developers. Extending presence in IM market

Internet telephony firm Skype is opening up its technology to third party developers. The move means coders will be able to integrate Skype's presence and instant messaging services into their website or applications. In opening up to third party developers, Skype boasted that it was creating the "largest open instant messaging platform" in the world. The SkypeNet and SkypeWeb Application Programming Interface (API) will be opened up as part of the wider Skype Developer Program, which already supports a community of partners and developers. The firm says its software has been downloaded 150m times in 225 countries and territories since its launch two years ago. More than 51m people are registered to use Skype's free services and 2m people have created accounts for Skype paid services, according to the firm. According to a recent study by network management firm Sandvine, Skype accounts for 46 per cent of all US VoIP traffic.

NSA's Domestic Spying Grows As Agency Sweeps Up Data.

NSA gets access to the flow of data from telecommunications switches through the FBI, according to current and former officials. It also has a partnership with FBI's Digital Collection system, providing access to Internet providers and other companies. The existence of a shadow hub to copy information about AT&T Corp. telecommunications in San Francisco is alleged in a lawsuit against AT&T filed by the civil-liberties group Electronic Frontier Foundation, based on documents provided by a former AT&T official. In that lawsuit, a former technology adviser to the Federal Communications Commission says in a sworn declaration that there could be 15 to 20 such operations around the country.