[Dan555]

Basically what the title says.

I updated Skype and found myself with a version of Skype which also has a Tom.com logo. An Internet search for "Skype Tom.com" showed that this version sends data to a Chinese company. This exposes all non-China users using Skype for Symbian to a serious privacy breach.

There are two programs in the store called Skype with exactly the same description. One has one screenshot with the Tom.com logo and currently a review score of three stars and is at version 2.4.5 and one has three screenshots without the Tom.com logo and currently a review score of 4 stars and is at version 2.0.5. People with the non-Tom.com version (2.0.5) are being offered an upgrade to the Tom.com version (2.4.5) which sends data to China.

I uninstalled this version with the App Manager, re-installed the old version, restarted the phone and went back into the shop and was again offered an update to the Skype Tom.com version. Obviously I didn't update this time.

It is not up to users to get bounced between Skype Support and Tom.com support since this is obviously wrong Store behaviour as the Store offers the wrong program for update. Please fix ASAP.

[michaels]

We will get this investigated urgently and advise in due course.

[Dan555]

I haven't been contacted but I've noticed that the second Skype has disappeared from the store account and I'm not being offered an upgrade to the Chinese version any more.

But was it just a fix on my account or is it fixed for everybody, even those who accepted the update as I did but haven't removed it yet?

It should also be made very plain which version of Skype you're downloading in the Store (e.g. differentiate their names, calling them something like "Skype" and "Skype Tom.com version for China").

[RiderX]

So what is actually the supposed problem with Tom-Skype? It works well with my phone, better than the old one and I don't see reasons to downgrade.

[Dan555]

From Wikipedia...

Skype - Service in the People's Republic of China

Since September 2007, users in China trying to download the Skype software client have been redirected to the site of TOM Online, a joint venture between a Chinese wireless operator and Skype, from which a modified Chinese version can be downloaded. The TOM client participates in China's system of Internet censorship, monitoring text messages between Skype users in China as well as messages exchanged with users outside the country. Niklas Zennström, then chief executive of Skype, told reporters that TOM "had implemented a text filter, which is what everyone else in that market is doing. Those are the regulations." He also stated: "One thing that’s certain is that those things are in no way jeopardising the privacy or the security of any of the users."In October 2008, it was reported that TOM had been saving the full message contents of some Skype text conversations on its servers, apparently focusing on conversations containing political issues such as Tibet, Falun Gong, Taiwan independence, and the Chinese Communist Party. The saved messages contain personally identifiable information about the messages' senders and recipients, including IP addresses, usernames, land line phone numbers, and the entire content of the text messages, including the time and date of each message. Information about Skype users outside China who were communicating with a TOM-Skype user was also saved. A server misconfiguration made these log files accessible to the public for a time.

Nokia's non-comment on this is rather disquieting.

[RiderX]

Well seems to be a non-issue for most people.

I noticed that the f-word is censored.

So keep your Tom-Skype and don't get paranoid.

[Dan555]

Well Nokia have disabled access to the Tom.com version from China.

http://store.ovi.com/content/20924 - Skype

vs.

http://store.ovi.com/content/50861 - Skype Tom.com

It's nice to see that they took my question seriously but the fact that Nokia haven't commented and haven't pushed out a mandatory withdrawal to people with the wrong version of the app shows that they haven't handled this as well as they could have.

If you're happy to carry on using the Chinese version even though Nokia have withdrawn it then that's up to you. But the fact that they have withdrawn it should tell you that it's probably better to uninstall it.

[RiderX]

It's less buggy than the former version - so I keep the Tom-Skype. But actually I eagerly wait for Skype for Belle. Be it Tom or not - this has priority.