Hate Facebook and all the info it has on you. Here’s more bad news. The Skype directory is now in Facebook and you can’t do anything about it.
Back in December 2010, the Skype community featured this post:
Now that the deed is done, as it were, a bug has emerged to throw a wrench into the integration. Here is the short term “fix” until the software can be updated.
The early consensus was that removing Skype 5.0 software completely was the most effective fix. Reverting to Skype 4.0 also worked.
While this did fix the issue, it didn’t come to grips with the underlying cause–and Skype staff did not weigh in on their support forum to provide any guidance. In the end, a conversation among several Skype clients came up with a quick and effective solution: Turn off Facebook integration in the Skype 5.0 client. Sure enough, that fixed it. It turned off the much-vaunted features of the new software, but it was worth the sacrifice.
Yep, the spawning Facebook windows were not caused by a virus; it was likely a case of poor programming. Why else would Skype 5.0 keep looking for Facebook when WebSense and other content filtering programs keep saying “Site blocked”? That’s the most likely explanation and as of now, Skype doesn’t seem to have offered any other reason.
All this came to light almost exactly a month ago, but in the post-Presidents’ Day holiday rush, our help desk is still getting cases of Skype 5.0 related spawning pop-up windows.
In a finger-pointing frenzy, it’s possible to blame Skype, WebSense, and other content filtering software, or the administrators who choose to block social networking sites from their company networks. But in the long run, the path of least resistance is the same: Just say no to Facebook integration until the bug is fixed. [PC World]
And just remember how to disengage Skype from Facebook if you prefer. The union, however, will one day help law enforcement.
Living on the edges of the Internet, cyberstalking sex addicts, terror suspects, and spambot purveyors communicate through secret chat boards and instant messaging tools, send real-time communiqués through Facebook, talk over Web phone services like Skype, and generally live off the grid.
It’s called “going dark,” and the FBI wants to put an end to it. Now.
The challenge? The standard techniques for dealing with criminals online — normal Internet surveillance, which typically involves scanning e-mail messages, data stores, and other “static” info held on servers across the U.S. — doesn’t work with cybersavvy crook
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/02/24/fbi-plans-new-methods-combat-dark-spots-net/#ixzz1Eu6DWAjQ
samiam60
February 24, 2011
Long gone are the days of being discrete and being able to communicate using social media. 1984 came late but rest assured, it is here now!
samhenry
February 24, 2011
Sami, I’m tired of being tracked. And of course now all of our calls will be listened in on and EVERYTHING about us will be known. I have to say there is a communications application that came with my logitec camera and I will see if I can use that or I will find something other than Skype. If Facebook buys or is ALLOWED to buy Twitter, I just plain give up.
DarcsFalcon
February 25, 2011
When services “collide” like that, the users of one should still be able to opt out of utilizing the other, I think. It’s akin to forcing Skype users to use FB whether they want to or not, and that’s not fair.
There are other VoIP services besides Skype, I’m sure if you do a search you can find a ton. Yahoo had one, Google has one, and I know there are others.
samhenry
February 25, 2011
Facebook and google want to make it impossible to avoid them. There are blogs where you have to confirm your identity and other places where you have to belong to one or the other to sign in to comment. They want all of this to be integrated to enhance info gathering about clients.