MICROSOFT SEEKS LEGAL GO-AHEAD FOR LEGAL INTERCEPT

Microsoft's attempt to seek a patent for a innovation called Legal Intercept, which would allow the company to secretly intercept , monitor and record Skype calls is stoking privacy concerns, reports Computer World

According to Microsoft, Legal Intercept is designed to silently record communications on VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) networks just as Skype.

The innovation in its patent application

From Microsoft's description of the innovation in its patent application, Legal Intercept appears similar to tools used by telecommunication companies and equipment makers to comply with government wiretap and surveillance requests.

The description explains, "Data associated with a request to establish a communication is modified to cause the communication to be established via a path that includes a recording agent." The recording agent is at that time able to "silently record" the communication."

Legal Intercept as well allows for modification of the data. The description notes, "Modification may include, for instance, adding, changing, and/or deleting data within the data. The data as modified is at that time passed to a protocol entity that uses the data to establish a communication session."

CALEA requires telecommunications carriers and makers of communications equipment to enable their equipment so it can be used for surveillance purposes by federal law enforcement agencies.

The implications of the research are much broader

But the implications of the research are much broader, Froomkin added. "First, making a communication innovation FBI-friendly means as well making it dictator-friendly, and in the end this is not good for movements like the Arab Spring," he said. "Second, experience shows that building in back doors invites exploits."

Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said the innovation aligns with Microsoft's broader goals.