Of course, you're right that the NSA is strong-arming its way into everything, and that they're going to be putting a LOT of energy into cracking/decrypting things.
However, to simply give up trying because of that is, I believe, not the best course of action. (Neither is simply searching for alternatives, of course; the *best* course of action would be to actively campaign against it. I have not ruled out such a course of action, but for now posts like these are the best I can do.)
There are still things that the NSA cannot decrypt. The NSA is not (yet) all-powerful; there is a modicum of privacy left in the world. (I am convinced that the recent shutdown of TrueCrypt is due entirely to the NSA being scared of something it cannot control.)
Why single out Skype? Two answers. Firstly, it's widespread, especially with its inclusion in Windows 8.1. It's a fact of security that the more widespread and popular a program is, the more scrutiny it's going to get. (That's why up until Mac OS X there weren't very many Mac viruses.)
Secondly, it has a major company behind it - one that's long been suspected of being in bed with the NSA. Microsoft, of course, denies that they're helping the NSA. They may even believe it officially - what the higher-ups don't know won't affect the stock prices. But somewhere Microsoft has their Room 641A, I can pretty much guarantee it.
The same thing, of course, applies to Google Hangouts. Heck, Hangouts is probably worse; Google know a lot more than Microsoft do about people and I have no doubt that Google's data collection is something the NSA very much want their hands on (and probably already do to some extent).
I'm talking about smaller things; Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, Mumble, etc. Of course, even those three names are relatively well-known, but it's far, far less likely that the people behind them have deals with the NSA; the NSA would probably have to resort to storing the encrypted audio streams as they flow and attempting to decrypt them later. [edit: They're also not centralised services, unlike Skype and Google Hangouts.]
So yeah, I do respectfully disagree that there's no privacy to be gained. I think there is; it's just difficult to find.
no subject
However, to simply give up trying because of that is, I believe, not the best course of action. (Neither is simply searching for alternatives, of course; the *best* course of action would be to actively campaign against it. I have not ruled out such a course of action, but for now posts like these are the best I can do.)
There are still things that the NSA cannot decrypt. The NSA is not (yet) all-powerful; there is a modicum of privacy left in the world. (I am convinced that the recent shutdown of TrueCrypt is due entirely to the NSA being scared of something it cannot control.)
Why single out Skype? Two answers. Firstly, it's widespread, especially with its inclusion in Windows 8.1. It's a fact of security that the more widespread and popular a program is, the more scrutiny it's going to get. (That's why up until Mac OS X there weren't very many Mac viruses.)
Secondly, it has a major company behind it - one that's long been suspected of being in bed with the NSA. Microsoft, of course, denies that they're helping the NSA. They may even believe it officially - what the higher-ups don't know won't affect the stock prices. But somewhere Microsoft has their Room 641A, I can pretty much guarantee it.
The same thing, of course, applies to Google Hangouts. Heck, Hangouts is probably worse; Google know a lot more than Microsoft do about people and I have no doubt that Google's data collection is something the NSA very much want their hands on (and probably already do to some extent).
I'm talking about smaller things; Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, Mumble, etc. Of course, even those three names are relatively well-known, but it's far, far less likely that the people behind them have deals with the NSA; the NSA would probably have to resort to storing the encrypted audio streams as they flow and attempting to decrypt them later. [edit: They're also not centralised services, unlike Skype and Google Hangouts.]
So yeah, I do respectfully disagree that there's no privacy to be gained. I think there is; it's just difficult to find.