[Clips] Is Skype a haven for criminals?

[Steve Schear]

>   <http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060217-6206.html>
>
>   Is Skype a haven for criminals?
>
>   2/17/2006 1:10:55 PM, by Nate Anderson
>
>   >From a law enforcement point of view, digital communication is a two-edged
>   sword. On the one hand, it allows for the simple collection, sorting, and
>   processing of massive amounts of information (such as in the FBI's
>   Carnivore system), but on the other hand, it is much easier for users to
>   encrypt their communications with almost unbreakable codes. Now that VoIP
>   calls are becoming commonplace, governments around the world are struggling
>   to adapt to the new technology, and Skype has found itself under extra
>   scrutiny.

<snip>

>   The FCC ruled last year that VoIP providers need to offer backdoors into
>   their systems for wiretapping reasons, but Skype isn't based in the US and
>   so is not subject to the rule. It is subject to the EU's new Data Retention
>   Directive, though, which may require them to retain call logs and
>   decryption keys for a period of time. If so, real-time monitoring of Skype
>   calls would still be out, but after-the-fact review of recorded calls from
>   people of interest might well be possible for the government.

My understanding is that encryption between Skype users is through remote 
key generation and key exchange and that any intermediaries (including 
Skype) don't have the necessary key information to decrypt the data 
streams.  Can anyone support or refute this assertion?

Steve