Skype is censoring links to dx.com | Hacker News Reader

Skype is censoring links to dx.com

36 pointscavin22 comments

After sending message with link it appears for 1/10s at responders chat.

This could easily be an automated spam/scam blacklist, rather than anything intentional or malicious.

Google blacklisted dx.com a few years ago: http://club.dx.com/forums/forums.dx/threadid.1186593?page=2

Why would they blacklist DX? I use it all the time and my experience has been great.

Blacklisting on a network like Skype is going to be mostly automated. Anything automated will have bugs.

I'm not saying I know what's happening for sure, but it's likely that Skype has automated security, possible that dx.com was added to it, and possible that it was accidental.

Sites get blacklisted all of the time, IME typically due to malware being present in advertising or promos.

I'm almost 100% sure that this filtering will have taken place because something malicious has been observed on dx.com.

I'm not surprised.

As is well known, Microsoft deliberately removed the encryption from Skype, making it just another insecure platform for communicating and vulnerable to censorship.

It is not a corporations job to ensure your freedoms. It is yours.

Skype encrypts its Skype-to-Skype traffic according to their FAQ.

https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA31/does-skype-use-encrypt...

All lies. Microsoft has all clear text.

Make up a new, random https URL. Something no one knows and no one would accidently hit. Message it to someone on Skype. Wait 5 minutes to see a bot from Microsoft hit your URL.

Well thats disturbing.

Anyone tried that?

http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Skype-with-care-M...

I have personally verified it's true.

What is your alternative proposal to prevent malware from propagating via Skype?

Don't? This is the wrong layer to apply the fix. Also, this method of spidering/cataloging would only prevent the most naively implemented worm from propagating.

Here is it - https://defuse.ca/microsoft-reads-your-skype-messages.htm

And another thing that worries me is if video chats between two Skype users do/can fall on the wrong hands. Could the video files be pushed to some of those porn websites out there as adult videos XXX????

Recent studies showed that links sent via skype are visited from a MS-owned IP address, so that doesn't sound true.

> All Skype-to-Skype voice, video, file transfers and instant messages are encrypted.

> For instant messages, we use TLS (transport-level security) to encrypt your messages between your Skype client and the chat service in our cloud [...]

As expected, it's just network-level encryption, not end-to-end encryption.

What would be MS' particular beef with dx.com?

anyone have a example of this or any proof?

Seeing the same here. Windows 64bit.

All this talk about Micro$oft becoming 'better' is easy to forget right now.

"Better" should always have you asking "for whom?"

In the context of the recent HN 'talks', 'better' would mean that it finally adopts more open policies and starts acting with dignity for once.

Shit that is being pulled with skype cannot be categorized as such, obviously.

Edit: I also love that the top comment attributes this to some 'non-malicious' blacklist completely ignoring the fact that they have no goddamn business in my communications and should not even see them let alone modify.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com