The Federal Bureau of Investigation has made it clear it wants to intercept Internet audio and video chats. And that, according to a new report being released Friday by a group of technologists, could pose “serious security risks” to ordinary Internet users, giving thieves and even foreign agents a way to listen in on Americans’ conversations, undetected. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/business/concerns-arise-on-us-effort-to-allow-internet-wiretaps.html?ref=us
Companies can meet wiretap orders by re-engineering  the way their systems are built at the endpoints, either in the software or in users’ devices, is in effect creating a valuable listening station for repressive governments as well as for ordinary thieves and blackmailers. The report comes as federal officials say they are close to reaching consensus on the F.B.I.’s longstanding demand to be able to intercept Internet communications. Companies that say they were unable to modify their operations to comply with the new wiretap orders would be subject to a fine.

Microsoft, which owns Skype, reported receiving 4,713 requests in 2012 from law enforcement, which covered just over 15,000 Skype accounts; the company said it released only “noncontent data, such as a Skype ID, name, e-mail account, billing information and call detail records” if an account is connected to a telephone number.