Anyone out there had their communication transformed by Skype? Me too. I used to talk to my parents once a week or so. Usually they’d call me using MCI prepaid phone cards they bought at Costco. Now we use Skype and call each other whenever and wherever. For free. I talk to Jackson almost weekly now and I do a number of  work-related things  via Skype. Once I was up at 4:30 in the morning, got up and decided to check baseball scores to help get back to sleep and my Uncle in Las Vegas, who I usually talk to once every couple years, called. Last week I talked to my future in-law Cyrus who was sitting at a Paris train station, waiting to go to Lyon where he and my cousin have just accepted teaching positions.

Maybe you get my point. Skype. It can change your life. Your relationships. And it’s all free.

But there’s a comeuppance. People using Skype are usually at their computer. Ever talk to someone who’s busy  watching TV? Try to talk to someone surfing the Internet. Moreover try to talk to someone while  YOU’RE surfing the Internet. It’s not easy, and you usually get agitated trying to do two things at once. Oh, you try to hide it, but it’s all reflected in the way you talk to whomever you’re trying to talk to. Your conversation becomes a bunch of mumbles, and next thing you know you’re saying “uh huh” and “yes”  and you  aren’t even sure what the question was. Sometimes you get caught in this, and then you have to back away from the computer screen and assemble the bits of conversation you did manage to hear. You might stand up, take a couple steps away from the box as if you’re going to walk out of the room like you used to. That’s when you realize you’re tethered to your computer. Like a dog on a leash.

You might stand there and stare at your leash for a few seconds, but if you think about it too much you’re going to fall even further behind in  the ongoing conversation. Next thing you know  you’re drifting…being drawn…back to your still warm computer chair. You’re dosing your mind with the safe, soothing glow of the computer screen, just has you did for much of the day before

you got…

Skyped.

At least it was free.

Apparently China is getting Skyped too, but the government is monitoring AND censoring it. You know how that goes.

From News.com.au:

The massive surveillance operation of TOM-Skype, a joint venture between Chinese mobile firm TOM Online and Skype, owned by US online auction house eBay, was alleged by Citizen Lab, a University of Toronto research group.

“TOM-Skype is censoring and logging text chat messages that contain specific, sensitive keywords and may be engaged in more targeted surveillance,” the computer security researchers said in a 16-page report.

“These logged messages contain keywords relating to sensitive topics such as Taiwan independence, the Falun Gong, and political opposition to the Communist Party of China.

Not much of a surprise here I guess. My wife’s company banned Skype this week. We never talked on there, but we chatted off and on during the day. On Monday  the computer tech guy came by her desk and said, “Oh, you’re using this?” My wife said she was. Two days later she couldn’t connect. He denied shutting it down and said the  company banning of certain Web sites or programs happens from  the Seoul headquarters. He may or may not be lying.

Who knows, maybe someday governments everywhere will be banning Skype doe to the fact that it’s making  citizens all the world over communicate half-heartedly.

We can only hope.