How does the architecture of Skype
In recent days, we have seen messages in the media that we believe are inaccurate and can mislead Skype users about our approach to user security and privacy. I would like to clarify a few details.
We are still deeply touched by the loyalty that we see among our users in all the world. Every day we work to create the best product for communication at a distance. We want Skype to be a reliable, fast and easy-to-use tool, and in most cases - free. It is used by mothers and fathers, teachers, military personnel, children, brothers and sisters, grandparents, lovers and old friends around the world. Our growth over the past nine years shows that we are on the right track, and we say to the whole community of our users: “Thank you.” It is a great honor for us to serve 250,000,000 users every month, and to provide 115,000,000,000 minutes of talking between people in the last quarter alone. We believe that communication is one of the basic human needs and, although Skype is already enjoying phenomenal popularity, in fact we are only taking the first steps in creating a convenient communication environment for people.
Of course, this does not happen by magic. Ensuring the availability of such a connection for all comers is a difficult technical task. This requires investment, innovation and a desire to use all new technologies and opportunities. In addition to the need to address the challenges of scaling up and ensuring reliable communications and a product that people would love, we, working globally, understand that we have a big responsibility. We strive to do it well: both in terms of providing phenomenal communication experience for all users, and in terms of responsible behavior as a member of the global community.
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Despite our efforts, some media have recently published publications that suggest that Skype is acting in an inappropriate way, based on ulterior motives, against the interests of our users. It is difficult to assume something less relevant to the philosophy of Skype.
Allow me to formulate some statements made in the press and provide the facts in return.
It was suggested that Skype made changes to the network architecture commissioned by Microsoft to provide law enforcement agencies with greater access to our users.
Wrong .
Skype architecture is based on our commitment to providing the best product for our users. Skype began the process of developing and moving supernodes to cloud servers long before Microsoft acquired it. Skype first deployed these mega super sites in the cloud to increase the reliability of Skype software and services in December 2010 . These sites were located in Skype’s own data centers and on third-party infrastructure (Amazon EC2), and more recently in Microsoft data centers. This step was taken in order to improve Skype, primarily to improve the reliability of the platform and increase the speed with which we can respond to problems. This step also gives us the opportunity to quickly introduce new interesting features that allow you to make communication more complete and richer in the future.
Earlier this year, we completed the migration of our super sites to Microsoft data centers, and now we can get the degree of reliability and support that other Microsoft cloud products use, such as Xbox Live, Bing, SkyDrive, Hotmail and Office 365. This creates real benefits to our users and contributes to our ability to scale Skype.
It has been suggested that Skype has recently changed its position and policy regarding cooperation with law enforcement.
Wrong .
The transition to our own superuties was not planned to facilitate the access of law enforcement agencies to the communication of our users. A team of employees responsible for responding to requests from law enforcement agencies has existed on Skype since 2005. While we are really focused on creating the best product for our users, we also consider ensuring its safety for all is fundamental to the quality of the product. Our position has always been to ensure that, in cases where law enforcement agencies follow the appropriate legal procedures, we respond to their requests in accordance with the law and within the framework of what is technically feasible. We have rules posted on our main site that give additional information to our position on this issue.
It was suggested that as a result of recent architectural changes, Skype was able to track and record audio and video calls of our users.
Wrong .
Switching to the internal hosting of super sites does not include monitoring and recording calls. “Superruns” help Skype customers find each other online so they can connect to make a call via Skype. Simply put, super sites act as a distributed directory of Skype users. Skype-to-Skype calls do not go through our data centers, and “super sites” do not participate in the transmission of audio or video between Skype clients.
These calls continue to be established directly between the Skype nodes (clients) participating in the conversation. In some cases, Skype uses servers to assist in making calls: for example, the server is used to notify the client that a new call is being initiated with it, and where the full-featured Skype application is not running (for example, the device is suspended, “asleep” or requires incoming call notifications for activation), as well as during group video calls, where the server aggregates media streams (video) from several clients and sends them to clients who may not have enough bandwidth to establish Connections with all the participants.
We believe that servers are the best way to solve these technical problems, as well as provide maximum convenience for our users.
As before, SkypeOut calls and incoming phone calls to Skype’s online numbers (calls connecting Skype to public telephone networks) go through the gateways of our partners, as this is necessary in order to connect them to the traditional telephone network.
It has been suggested that the changes we made were made to facilitate law enforcement access to Skype instant messages.
Wrong .
We upgraded our software and infrastructure to improve usability and reliability. Point.
In order to ensure the delivery and synchronization of instant messages between multiple devices, as well as to manage the delivery of messages between users located behind some firewalls that do not allow a direct connection between clients, some messages are stored temporarily on ours (Skype / Microsoft) servers for immediate or subsequent delivery to the user.
As I said above, if law enforcement agencies, following the appropriate procedures, request access to messages temporarily stored on our servers, we will have to provide it. I must repeat, we will do it only if required by law, and if it is technically feasible.
Some commentators have suggested that Skype has ceased to protect the communication of its users.
Wrong .
Skype software autonomously applies encryption to Skype-to-Skype calls between computers, smartphones and other mobile devices that have a full-featured version of the Skype application , as it always has been. This has not changed. Only the Skype version distributed in China through our joint venture with Tom.com contains a chat filter in accordance with local law .
As I said at the very beginning, our users and their amenities are our top priorities.
We have an amazingly loyal community of users from all over the world, and we believe that our users deserve the best products we can create.
Every day we are committed to helping Skype users communicate with their loved ones, wherever they are - in Moscow, Miami or Mumbai, and which platform they use - PC, iPhone, TV, Windows Phone, Mac or Android. We are constantly striving to develop and implement an efficient, secure, reliable and yet easy to use communication system. We hope you continue to love Skype.
Thank you for your continued support, loyalty to our products and love for Skype.
- Mark
We are still deeply touched by the loyalty that we see among our users in all the world. Every day we work to create the best product for communication at a distance. We want Skype to be a reliable, fast and easy-to-use tool, and in most cases - free. It is used by mothers and fathers, teachers, military personnel, children, brothers and sisters, grandparents, lovers and old friends around the world. Our growth over the past nine years shows that we are on the right track, and we say to the whole community of our users: “Thank you.” It is a great honor for us to serve 250,000,000 users every month, and to provide 115,000,000,000 minutes of talking between people in the last quarter alone. We believe that communication is one of the basic human needs and, although Skype is already enjoying phenomenal popularity, in fact we are only taking the first steps in creating a convenient communication environment for people.
Of course, this does not happen by magic. Ensuring the availability of such a connection for all comers is a difficult technical task. This requires investment, innovation and a desire to use all new technologies and opportunities. In addition to the need to address the challenges of scaling up and ensuring reliable communications and a product that people would love, we, working globally, understand that we have a big responsibility. We strive to do it well: both in terms of providing phenomenal communication experience for all users, and in terms of responsible behavior as a member of the global community.
')
Despite our efforts, some media have recently published publications that suggest that Skype is acting in an inappropriate way, based on ulterior motives, against the interests of our users. It is difficult to assume something less relevant to the philosophy of Skype.
Allow me to formulate some statements made in the press and provide the facts in return.
It was suggested that Skype made changes to the network architecture commissioned by Microsoft to provide law enforcement agencies with greater access to our users.
Wrong .
Skype architecture is based on our commitment to providing the best product for our users. Skype began the process of developing and moving supernodes to cloud servers long before Microsoft acquired it. Skype first deployed these mega super sites in the cloud to increase the reliability of Skype software and services in December 2010 . These sites were located in Skype’s own data centers and on third-party infrastructure (Amazon EC2), and more recently in Microsoft data centers. This step was taken in order to improve Skype, primarily to improve the reliability of the platform and increase the speed with which we can respond to problems. This step also gives us the opportunity to quickly introduce new interesting features that allow you to make communication more complete and richer in the future.
Earlier this year, we completed the migration of our super sites to Microsoft data centers, and now we can get the degree of reliability and support that other Microsoft cloud products use, such as Xbox Live, Bing, SkyDrive, Hotmail and Office 365. This creates real benefits to our users and contributes to our ability to scale Skype.
It has been suggested that Skype has recently changed its position and policy regarding cooperation with law enforcement.
Wrong .
The transition to our own superuties was not planned to facilitate the access of law enforcement agencies to the communication of our users. A team of employees responsible for responding to requests from law enforcement agencies has existed on Skype since 2005. While we are really focused on creating the best product for our users, we also consider ensuring its safety for all is fundamental to the quality of the product. Our position has always been to ensure that, in cases where law enforcement agencies follow the appropriate legal procedures, we respond to their requests in accordance with the law and within the framework of what is technically feasible. We have rules posted on our main site that give additional information to our position on this issue.
It was suggested that as a result of recent architectural changes, Skype was able to track and record audio and video calls of our users.
Wrong .
Switching to the internal hosting of super sites does not include monitoring and recording calls. “Superruns” help Skype customers find each other online so they can connect to make a call via Skype. Simply put, super sites act as a distributed directory of Skype users. Skype-to-Skype calls do not go through our data centers, and “super sites” do not participate in the transmission of audio or video between Skype clients.
These calls continue to be established directly between the Skype nodes (clients) participating in the conversation. In some cases, Skype uses servers to assist in making calls: for example, the server is used to notify the client that a new call is being initiated with it, and where the full-featured Skype application is not running (for example, the device is suspended, “asleep” or requires incoming call notifications for activation), as well as during group video calls, where the server aggregates media streams (video) from several clients and sends them to clients who may not have enough bandwidth to establish Connections with all the participants.
We believe that servers are the best way to solve these technical problems, as well as provide maximum convenience for our users.
As before, SkypeOut calls and incoming phone calls to Skype’s online numbers (calls connecting Skype to public telephone networks) go through the gateways of our partners, as this is necessary in order to connect them to the traditional telephone network.
It has been suggested that the changes we made were made to facilitate law enforcement access to Skype instant messages.
Wrong .
We upgraded our software and infrastructure to improve usability and reliability. Point.
In order to ensure the delivery and synchronization of instant messages between multiple devices, as well as to manage the delivery of messages between users located behind some firewalls that do not allow a direct connection between clients, some messages are stored temporarily on ours (Skype / Microsoft) servers for immediate or subsequent delivery to the user.
As I said above, if law enforcement agencies, following the appropriate procedures, request access to messages temporarily stored on our servers, we will have to provide it. I must repeat, we will do it only if required by law, and if it is technically feasible.
Some commentators have suggested that Skype has ceased to protect the communication of its users.
Wrong .
Skype software autonomously applies encryption to Skype-to-Skype calls between computers, smartphones and other mobile devices that have a full-featured version of the Skype application , as it always has been. This has not changed. Only the Skype version distributed in China through our joint venture with Tom.com contains a chat filter in accordance with local law .
As I said at the very beginning, our users and their amenities are our top priorities.
We have an amazingly loyal community of users from all over the world, and we believe that our users deserve the best products we can create.
Every day we are committed to helping Skype users communicate with their loved ones, wherever they are - in Moscow, Miami or Mumbai, and which platform they use - PC, iPhone, TV, Windows Phone, Mac or Android. We are constantly striving to develop and implement an efficient, secure, reliable and yet easy to use communication system. We hope you continue to love Skype.
Thank you for your continued support, loyalty to our products and love for Skype.
- Mark
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/148611/
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