Skype contact lists may have been exposed (2017)

I never quite understood why Microsoft is so hell-bent on adding stupid features, removing useful ones and creating unwanted re-designs for Skype instead improving core features.

The new design is awful, they removed contact groups, something I used daily. Didn't they also experiment with stupid stories at one point? And now this. I'm surprised people were not mad about it a lot earlier, since it's been a while since they did this.

All in all, it seems very tone deaf, at least to me.

I have to agree on this one. I am my mother’s only Skype contact. When she started receiving friend suggestions she quickly worked out that those people were my friends. Luckily it’s my mother we’re talking about and I don’t mind her seeing those contacts, but what if it was someone else? For example I have seen the practice of creating an ad-hoc Skype account for an interview. Now that employer can see my contacts.

I used skype extensively in its pre-Microsoft era as pretty much all the academics i know. It was synonymous of exciting discussions with collaborators. It had something special which set it apart from usual calls. A kind of special space for discussions.

Last time i used it it took me a day to figure out what my username was. Had to search forums, ask on the internet, and finally navigate the awful microsoft website back and forth to finally find a childish live:xxxxq122 username (MS blocked my 10+ years account because it didnt like the date of birth i provided in a hurry. I was “too young” to use the service). I have no idea now what happened to basic things like a contact list. The new interface should be studied in design schools on all the things that shouldn’t be done.

I find myself using whatsapp or gtalk for meetings now. Having to call collaborators using the same device/service i use with my family. Thanks Microsoft.

This is going to be "fun" for all the psychologists and other doctors meeting people over Skype. MS really failed here.

This is pretty egregious. Is this possibly illegal? I certainly did not consent.

I stopped using Skype when they built a backdoor for the Chinese government.

That and a few other very poor experiences with the service, including some very questionable security issues.

Frankly, I hope it does off.

This is a big stain in the 'new MS' (really it's just the old MS) and we should hold Satya to account on this one.

It's mind boggling how so much money and so many 'smart' Engineers could just run a product into the ground.

Skype needs to be analyzed for why it's such a product failure.

My guess: it's mostly driven by strategic objectives (i.e. downloads, revenues) and the Engineers may care, but that 'user experience' is not a primary concern.

It blows my mind how Google, MS and others don't yet grasp this, and how even 'changing interfaces' has a considerable usability cost.

We use ZOOM now for most things, it's very reliable, but the interface is kind of weird.

I never assume a deep level of security for any Microsoft product. Fortunately, who my Skype contacts are isn't particularly sensitive. (I wouldn't choose Skype as a platform for anything sensitive.)

The story states there is no way to opt out but in preferences / contacts / privacy there is the option "Appear in suggestions" which I assume solves this but should have been opt-in.

My grief with Skype goes deep, not to mention Skype for Business and the idiotic impossibility of adding contacts between S4B and Skype.

Can we get a list of Skype alternatives going? I feel like it's time to dump the corporate behemoth mess.

It feels almost inevitable that all the major platforms will get compromised in some way, especially as they grow in features and thus attack surface. I can only imagine the magnitude and persistence of attacks on these kinds of platforms. Even if it's possible for them to be technically sound, all it takes is a bad human to spoil all the hard engineering work.

I wouldn't trust sensitive data on any of them, and with the way advertising tech and governments treat privacy, I'm not sure technology has a bright future in that regard. I would sooner write down a secret on a piece of paper and lock it in a drawer than keep them on a computer.

It's much more practical to have retractable, replaceable secrets, so that you have agency over an inevitable leak of that secret. The way credit card companies handle breaches is a great example, they are very sympathetic to the fact that cards get stolen.

I don't lead a particularly interesting life, so it's not really going to stop me from using computers, but on principal it's not very good that we can't trust the devices in our pockets.

This started with the preview version like 1 month ago. I immediately removed the new setting as I noticed the suggestions popping up.

These changes should be opt-in.

I opened the iPhone app, went to setting, turned it off. Then back out and in ... and it’s on again.

Tried several more times - it shows “off” when clicked, but back on when I re-enter. I will try again from a desktop when I am next to one.

I assume it’s incompetence rather than malice, but.... understandably, incompetence never works for the users, only against them.

When Microsoft switched Skype to Microsoft accounts I've lost 2/3 of my contacts list. I had valuable contacts in it that were just gone.

Afterwards I contacted their support twice and both times I ended up talking with somebody that tried to convince me that it was my fault ("you must have created a second account"). I understand that this actually happens in the real world but after talking with support the second time with no result, I just gave up.

And then I stopped using Skype, convinced my colleagues too, we switched to Slack, Hangouts, Zoom, whatever.

Interestingly Microsoft has good support for other products. E.g. I contacted them twice about bugs in OneDrive and in both cases I received a prompt acknowledgement that the issue exists and then afterwards acknowledgement that it was fixed.

But the experience with Skype was just terrible. When people accuse them of running Skype into the ground, I tend to agree.

While I agree this is terrible, what is different about Facebook harvesting information to send "People You May Know" invite emails? Wasn't that far worse since it didn't even require that a person signup for Facebook? Couldn't the same correlations be driven as the author of this post discussed?

After 15 years as a customer, yesterday was the last day of my last Skype subscription.

So long to the random designs, dropping calling features, horrible connections and barely-human customer support. You won't get another penny from me unless/until you do a 180.

A few months ago (shortly before GDPR) there were reports of company accounts being locked out of Skype because of age restrictions. Some people had normal, personal accounts which they used for business purposes with the birthdate set to the company's founding date. Then GDPR came in and you had to be over 16 or 18 to use Skype or your account required parental verification. To do this, you had to link the supposed child's account with the parent's. Of course, the paren't account had to have a credit card linked or undergo some Microsoft verification by sending an ID scan. Most people decided to go with the second option, as they didn't have or want to link a credit card with Microsoft. Of course, that verification took days, especially when so many users requested it, and for all that time they didn't have access to Skype, Office 365, Mail etc. I can provide a source (in polish) if anyone is interested. Of course, those restrictions didn't really work out for most (real) children as most people are already used to automatically provide a birthdate that's over 18.

Skype was on of those things your average salesperson could use, without any IT interaction.

Microsoft ruined it when they introduced Skype for business, which isn't even the same thing? How confusing.

Andreesen Horowitz must have been laughing all the way to the bank.

If it wasn't for the fact that Skype is one of the products that tends to work in China without interruptions (as opposed to Hangouts), I'd have deleted my account there long back.

Can anyone provide a screenshot on how the suggest feature looks? I'm trying to find it on Skype for Mac but no luck. Just for Windows still?

At this point, it might just be easier to report on sites that -haven't- been exposed. (If there are any.)

No timestamp, when was this article posted?

Judging by the Microsoft link in TFA, this should be (2017).

Also, I can't help wondering what changes they will be making to this "feature" to accommodate California's new CCPA...

Sounds like you're using a consumer version of a product and wondering why it has consumer features.

It would however be interesting to see how Skype for Pro's (read: Business) handles this suggestion feature.