NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Skype changes under Microsoft, and not for the better
----- Forwarded message from [withheld by request] Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2012 12:17:01 [TZ] From: [] To: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com> > On 07/28 10:11, [] wrote: Lauren, it does sound murky. What is not murky, however, that since Skype was bought by Microsoft, things have changed noticeably and not for the better. The pace at which it is updated seems to have increased. Some of the updates require people to change their preferences in substantive ways, just to maintain the services they had. Finally, the TOS have changed so that when a person hacks your account, or makes unauthorized phone calls, Skype no longer reimburses the customer for the cost. Instead, they continually redirect you to their FAQ (!) or repeat the TOS to you over and over until you simply give up trying to communicate with them. I know this because last week, someone with a user name that does not resemble mine (but is similar to my first name) got into my account and charged about 15 calls t/f Indonesia-Egypt. The total amount of money was not huge -- slightly over $6.00. It was clearly not a family member. *Skype alerted me to the breach, then went ahead and billed my account* for it. I wasted hours on the "live chat with customer service" line trying to get it fixed, to no avail. The transcript would be funny if it weren't so annoying. Example: After saying I didn't need another copy of the FAQ's, & that I already know plenty about hacking, the agent said to me: "I am being triggered when you said that you are an expert hacker and that is clearly against our Terms and Conditions." I made clear that I knew a lot about hacking, but it comes from having been a *target*. I in no way claimed to be an expert hacker (for one thing, an expert hacker would never be stupid enough to say so on a chat line with customer service!). His response: a reiteration of Skypes' policies, most particularly the new TOS: "Skype will continue our efforts to prevent fraudulent user account activity and we will continue to take every precaution to ensure that only genuine transactions get processed; however, fraudulent activity can still occur. *Our terms have been revised to reflect that Skype is not held responsible for a refund in the event of suspected fraudulent activity. *We strongly recommend that users contact their card issuer immediately regarding any unauthorized transactions and ensure that no further fraudulent charges are made with their card. All major credit card companies have policies that protect against this type of fraud. "(*Emphases mine*) He also plopped in a block of canned text addressing the question: "What is Phishing?". Argh. Thanks a bunch (not)! There's no point in recounting the whole thing, but I wanted to alert you to this change in case you were not aware, or your readers are not aware, of it. Best, [] ----- Forwarded message ends _______________________________________________ nnsquad mailing list http://lists.nnsquad.org/mailman/listinfo/nnsquad