stamp out the new technology so the old infrastructure doesn't have to adapt... yep, sounds like a government decision

God forbid the customer saves some money...
If the Telcom companies didn’t rip us off we wouldn’t resort to programs such as Skype.

Must... Crush... Capitalism...

Even... If... Almost... Free...

A believe the title should read: Skype: A threat TO Russian Secutiy.

A Threat of Russian Security isn't proper English and doesn't make sense.

@cabose
Let's say it's a typo, yet again...

Wake up & smell the coffee.

... well mabye someday they will.

lol... I just about died on this one. Skype doesn't provide any support or contact over the phone. If you have any issues with your Skype service, you are supposed to go to their forums, fill out a template, and the response can take up to 4 days.

No phone support from a company that provides you with telephone service? Ironic.

I use ICQ, but only to talk to my friend in Russia. It's actually very popular there.

Is that an almost Chinese fear of encrypted, untraceable calls I hear?

waiting to hear from china on this one now.......

@Uncle meat

What does your Russian friend think?

I use ICQ... granted, I've been using Pidgin to gain access to my ICQ account and I used Trillian for a long time before Pidgin... but ICQ is the only messenger I actually have maintained over the years.

Most of my friends use it.

Wtf are people using these days anyways? AIM? No thanks.

In Russia, Telecom companies CHOOSE you!

I like skype, i talk to my Russian relatives all the time on it, it would really suck to get this taken away...

...Good Morninng, Comrade Stalin!...

They're probably throwing a fit because they can't tap the conversations and monitor everything that's going on.

I always guessed that telecom profits would one day start causing issues for free encrypted VOIP.

I guarantee there either already exists, or will soon exist, a non-free state-telecom controlled VOIP service for Russians that will be the only one allowed in Russia.

Bloody Russia.

Russia and most of the other countries have still a great deal to learn from the ultra paranoid US government in term of national security. I guess Americans are so used to the various measures that they don't notice them anymore.

Bloody ignorance.

The interesting thing about Russia is, they still think they're the Soviet Union, which itself got destroyed by trying to compete with the United States. Russia is a less powerful country than the Soviet Union, and they act like they have this big role in the world to play. It's like some idiot that no one cares about acting like everyone is out to get them, when everyone is trying to forget them.

Instead of pounding their chests like the primitive jackasses they have become, they should use their natural resources as a weapon, and just shut up and stop making so much childish noise. They have a lot of leverage with their resources, but, militarily, trying to compete with the United States is like a mouse competing with a Maine Coon. They couldn't do it when they were a complete country, now they have no chance being a fragment with a much smaller economy than they had. I get so tired with Russian chest thumping. No one cares, and they don't scare anyone. National Security? Who's interested in attacking them? Even the Germans aren't interested.

VoIP is not really reliable, anyway, at least for most people. For residences, it's much less reliable than POTS, and in fact anyone that really needs reliability is a complete fool for using it. It's funny when people tie their security system to it, because it's just not as reliable as POTS in homes. It's cheap though, and has some great and flexible features, so as an adjunct, it's fine, but when someone depends on it to be up all the time, in a residence, they are setting themselves up for disaster. This just isn't stated enough, and most people get it without understanding it fully.

ta152h, very infantile and shortsighted analysis. I'm not surprised though.

"Russia is a less powerful country than the Soviet Union, and they act like they have this big role in the world to play."
I don't know what Skype has to do with competition between USA and SU, but SU was indeed more powerful than Russia is now, but Russia was the real power behind SU. And Russia still plays a major role in the world and will do so in the future. Otherwise why would Russia be among the first countries Obama visited? Didn't he ask for help with cargo transit to Afghanistan? Doesn't he want to trade radar in Czech for Russia's cooperation regarding Iran and North Korea's nuclear weapons program?
Let's go through the major reasons. One reason you have already mentioned: natural resources. Then we have: largest nuclear weapons stockpile (and still unused unlike the US one), membership in most geopolitical and economic organizations (except WTO), UN veto, traditionally strong geopolitical influence all around the world, space technology (goodbye Shuttles, welcome Soyuz), huge territory, strong science. Even a single argument would be enough to make any country a major geopolitical player, mr. "analyst".

"National Security? Who's interested in attacking them? Even the Germans aren't interested."
That's extraordinary shortsighted. Just because no one breaks into your house doesn't mean no one wants to do so.
And there are always jerks - like the Georgian leader mr. Saakashvilli - who are supported by even bigger jerks like Bush. Besides, since when does USA need a valid reason to attack another country (hint: Iraq)? And why "*even* Germans"? Because of the war that took place more than 60 years ago?

"It's funny when people tie their security system to it"
It's funny when people tie the position of a business organisation like the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs to the official position of the Russian government. That's absurd.
What's more funny is that some people seem to be so brainwashed, that the only association they have with any news concerning Russia is either Stalin (a Georgian, and since according to McCain "all Americans are Georgians now", Americans must know their new family members) or violence.

"Instead of pounding their chests like the primitive jackasses they have become [...]".
After reading three paragraphs of your complains, insults and highly incompetent analysis in the vein of "oh, we are so great and they suck so much" you seem like a primitive jackass who is pounding his chest. And you are tired not because of Russia's "chest thumping", but because of your sick ego, which gets harassed by your mass media.

Yekoor,

You must be a Russian, and like most, still think you're in the cold war. I'll give you a clue, you lost. You're really not important, and you're still communists at heart.

Saakashvilli didn't attack Russia, you moron. He attempted to attack regions that were part of Georgia, and are recognized as such by everyone but Russia. I have yet to see a country advance claims on Russian territory, although, historically, the Chinese have. The Japanese also claim half of an island the Soviets took after WW II. But, if anyone were going to attack Russia, they would have by now. How stupid are you people to think that anyone even cares?

Russia still has a U.N. veto, so there is that issue. Not that it will stop us from doing what we want anyway. Primitive countries like Russia don't dictate foreign policy by virtue of having U.N. power, since it's become a petty dictatorship that has delusions of grandeur. It's easier with the U.N., of course.

I never said Stalin was Russian, and I am well aware he was Georgian. Of course, he had plenty of Russian butchers working for him when he slaughtered many in the U.S.S.R.

Russia is half of what the U.S.S.R. was, which is half what the U.S. was. Ukraine was a huge industrial section of the U.S.S.R., and now they are antagonistic towards Russia. That's got to hurt. Georgia is too. By the way, why is it the Russians got off and beating up the Georgians, but when American warships went to Georgia, they called it 'devilry'?

Oh, and what about threatening Poland if they allowed missiles in their country? Primitive chest-pounding, from an ignorant people that think they can bully their way through politics. You got called on that one though. Was kind of funny how quickly the Russians back off after Rice said how childish that statement was, and that Russia knew that America would attack them if they attacked a country U.S. was in a military alliance with (which, Georgia, was not, and was told by the U.S. that it would not get help if it attacked).

So, keep your primitive chest pounding up. No one cares. It's just childish, and you end up hurting your reputation. By the way, why does Russia support seperatism with the autonomous sections of Georgia, but is afraid to support Armenian claims on Artsakh, or Nagorno-Karabakh? Be consistent. You guys can beat Turks, can't you? Armenians did it without your help in the 1990s.

The reference to Germans was because they have historically looked to land in the East, and whipped you in WW I. Read a history book, if you have any there that weren't written by a communist trying to brain-wash you. I'll give you two hints, Prussia is what formed Germany, in 1871. Bismarck wasn't just a battleship. Now go read something, if you know how.

It's funny they should mention Skype, which technology was predominantly created in Estonia. Those history/geography buffs among you may recognize Estonia as a former Soviet state which joined the EU back in '04.

Perhaps I'm just seeing things, but Russia tends to get a bit 'funny' when their former territories achieve any degree of success or self-reliance.

ProSieben (german ad financed tv sender) still promotes ICQ, and I'm sure they're not the only ones. Dunno how many actually use it though. I stopped using it when my 2000b client no longer could install. (wanted to keep my chat history)

This reminds me a lot of the cable companies in the US vs Internet media streaming . . .

Try to find some sources besides US media propaganda before you show your ignorance. I am Russian, I also served for 10 years in the US Army. Saakashvili is the reason for the whole conflict. That is not to say that the whole thing didn't play right into Putin's hands, but Russia did not start the whole thing. If you look at the footage of Georgian soldiers--90% of their equipment is old US Army stuff. US needs to get out of the region, period. It was a local conflict made possible by the generous donations from the CIA. Enough said...

Now back to the topic. Russia is actually following a model already implemented by another country. That country is South Korea. Their government did the same exact thing following the pressure from telecoms. South Korea is decidedly not Soviet Union, but politicians being in the pocket of Big Business is a pretty universal thing...

Thanks to Obama/Hillary Clinton who quibble before Russia, Russia still thinks it's important. I would have expected Russia to embrace free Skype/ICQ, given that most Russians today earn little, and are living in squalor. But hey, as long as the pseudo-communists running Russia make their billions, the people be damned.

I tip my hat to Bush who never took any crap from Russia. That was why they never liked him. Today, they have their compliant little puppet Obama who does what they want. Russia loves to take shots at the USA all the time, but take a look at how Russians live today, it's all American way. How do you criticize something, but then go ahead and copy it in toto? That shows that you're just petty and jealous.

The US is to blame for the stockpile of nuclear weapons that Russia has today. All those weapons were located in the Ukraine, before the US/UK lured the Ukraine to surrender them to Russia. America with it's miscalculations, has now made Russia into a power that threatens its neighbors at every turn.

Russia needs to leave it's old authoritarian soviet mentality behind and step into the civilized world of unfettered VoIP communication.