For those who have tried Skype before, you know it’s a free way to video or audio chat and instant message with other users.
Skype has made its way into the classrooms, business offices and homes of 26 countries. But there is one place where it is illegal to use the cheap and functional technology of Skype. Here’s a hint: it’s not China.
Members of Congress, both the Senate and the House, are banned from using Skype, as well as any other peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing software application on their computers, thanks to a circa-2006 firewall that is necessary for security.
Instead, legislators use less sophisticated, but more expensive, video-conferencing technology on the taxpayer’s dime while the House struggles to lift the ban.
What makes Skype insecure? The part of Skype that allows users to share files with each other is made possible by the same dicey technology that lets Limewire and BitTorrent users share files from each others’ hard drives.
File sharing on Skype can’t happen without the user allowing it, but the government safety gods feel that P2P just has too wild of a reputation to risk matters of national security.
Ironically, this firewall is quite simple to work around, so Skype is still accessible on Wi-Fi networks or mobile phones.
Sure, most members of Congress don’t even read their own e-mail, let alone know their computer has a camera, but some are serious about lifting this dated ban — or at least serious about changing the way they’re perceived by voters during an election year.
Like almost everything Congress talks about, legalizing Skype has become a partisan issue.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and known tea partier, blamed the block directly on Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats.
Last April, House Minority Leader John Boehner sent Pelosi a letter requesting Skype be permitted for House use, saying, “Rather than lagging behind, let’s move one step closer into the future of Congressional communications.”
Something seems wrong here. Republicans pushing for more wide-used consumer technology?
The conservative Right is striving for greater engagement and transparency in government?
I mean, it’s certainly possible, but if you can use Skype on pretty much any computer in the country except your government-monitored office desktop, then the “push for technology” begins to appear more like a publicity stunt.
Either way, the decision, thankfully, lies in the hands of the bipartisan Committee on House Administration, which has been left to decide if Skype is a risk to House security.
This probably happens with every form of technology the private sector gets its hands on; YouTube and Twitter were once blacklisted from Congressional use as well.
Even the rotary telephone was probably a threat to national security at some point. Personally, I’m glad each of these new online fads gets a once-over by someone more qualified than certain House Representatives from Minnesota…
Send snarky Skype snipes to swhitmir@asu.edu
