Why I Dumped Skype For Google Hangouts
Jeffrey McCaskill — July 22, 2013
When I lived over a thousand miles from the woman I loved, I became keenly aware of how important seeing each other, even virtually, could become. While getting a call was still a thrill, it paled in comparison to seeing her talk via video conferencing. Suddenly, I was privy to subtle changes in her expression. I could tell in a moment if she'd had a good day or bad. Without a doubt, the visual cues it provided made for an undeniably richer, more nuanced form of communication.
Using Skype was a no-brainer at the time. While there were other products out there, they all lacked the maturity and robustness we needed to stay connected with a quality signal. In fact, in the areas of VoIP and VoBB, (basically, voice and video over the internet) Skype stood head and shoulders above the competition, becoming so ubiquitous in the process that people came to use Skype as a verb, as in, "Can I Skype you later?" It was that good, and Skype's user base grew exponentially as a result. Enter Microsoft.
One day, I read that the good folks at Skype had sold their beloved offering to Microsoft for a cool $8.5 billion. Microsoft immediately pledged to the millions of Skype faithful that it wouldn't materially change the look and feel of the service, nor would it begin charging for WiFi-based voice and video communication, as many feared. It made good on those promises, and everyone (including us) breathed a sigh of relief. My fiancé and I continued to use Skype happily, and without a hitch. But something ugly was going on behind the scenes--something that would ultimately send us (and millions like us) on a frantic search for a safer, less-intrusive alternative. Allow me to explain.
It seems the success of Microsoft's new acquisition caught the attention of our big-eared friends over at the NSA (National Security Agency), who believed that unfettered access to all incoming and outgoing Skype communications would allow them to better identify sinister users who presumably tossed around words like bomb, infiltrate, and jihad in ordinary conversation. So, the NSA quickly brokered a deal with Microsoft enabling them to use "scrubbers" to listen in, record, and analyze these conversations at will. It seems Microsoft, in an act of blind patriotism, never once questioned the motives, efficacy, or intention of the NSA before agreeing to its requests.
And guess what happened? All of their services became s-l-o-w-e-r, and less reliable—practically overnight. Who would have thought? So, not only did all Skype users unwittingly relinquish their privacy, but their service took a huge performance hit while doing so. Moreover, the Skype service I purchased enabling cheap mobile-to-mobile communications became virtually unusable, as it dropped calls every minute or two without fail.
Now, before the most trusting among you chime in with the well-worn response, "I have nothing to hide, so why should I worry?", consider this: all governments (even the U.S. government), when given unregulated power in any area of societal oversight, inevitably gravitate towards dark deeds and wrong-doing. And this eavesdropping program is no exception. What matters most here is the fact that there is currently NO regulation over precisely what the NSA may or may not listen to, as the US government effectively granted them carte blanche via the Patriot Act in 2001. This should give all Americans, regardless of their political persuasion, reason to shudder. Enter Google.
Immediately after learning about the Microsoft-NSA partnership, we set about finding an alternative communication solution. My fiancée had recently opened a Gmail account and in exploring the offerings there, discovered Google Hangouts. I had been a Gmail fan for some time, but had never bothered to check out Google's other services.
Once we confirmed one another in our circles (Google's term for groups), we gave Google Hangouts a try. Not only were the video and audio signals clearer, but, on those rare occasions when it dropped us, it quickly and effectively restored communication. Moreover, being able to create a private circle that restricted others from joining was also reassuring. Even while using Skype in its heyday, our communication was occasionally compromised by unwanted audio bleed-through from other conversations. This never occurred with Google Hangouts. In fact, the only peculiarity we encountered was the bothersome creation of conversation tags on our Google+ pages after each call. Admittedly, they were easy to delete, but I wish they could be prevented via the settings menu. Other than that minor annoyance, the service worked reliably and transparently, just as we had hoped.
Certainly, Google's establishment of Google+ and Google Hangouts wasn't an altruistic one. Companies like Google gobble up and bloody smaller competitors with alarming regularity. Will Google make a similarly shady deal in the future? Perhaps. But for now, Google seems content to simply provide better voice and video conferencing while still protecting our privacy. However, if history has taught us anything, it's that we all need to pay attention and act accordingly, or suffer the loss of privacy and other rights through apathy and blind trust. It is our choice—for now—so let us all choose wisely.
Using Skype was a no-brainer at the time. While there were other products out there, they all lacked the maturity and robustness we needed to stay connected with a quality signal. In fact, in the areas of VoIP and VoBB, (basically, voice and video over the internet) Skype stood head and shoulders above the competition, becoming so ubiquitous in the process that people came to use Skype as a verb, as in, "Can I Skype you later?" It was that good, and Skype's user base grew exponentially as a result. Enter Microsoft.
One day, I read that the good folks at Skype had sold their beloved offering to Microsoft for a cool $8.5 billion. Microsoft immediately pledged to the millions of Skype faithful that it wouldn't materially change the look and feel of the service, nor would it begin charging for WiFi-based voice and video communication, as many feared. It made good on those promises, and everyone (including us) breathed a sigh of relief. My fiancé and I continued to use Skype happily, and without a hitch. But something ugly was going on behind the scenes--something that would ultimately send us (and millions like us) on a frantic search for a safer, less-intrusive alternative. Allow me to explain.
It seems the success of Microsoft's new acquisition caught the attention of our big-eared friends over at the NSA (National Security Agency), who believed that unfettered access to all incoming and outgoing Skype communications would allow them to better identify sinister users who presumably tossed around words like bomb, infiltrate, and jihad in ordinary conversation. So, the NSA quickly brokered a deal with Microsoft enabling them to use "scrubbers" to listen in, record, and analyze these conversations at will. It seems Microsoft, in an act of blind patriotism, never once questioned the motives, efficacy, or intention of the NSA before agreeing to its requests.
And guess what happened? All of their services became s-l-o-w-e-r, and less reliable—practically overnight. Who would have thought? So, not only did all Skype users unwittingly relinquish their privacy, but their service took a huge performance hit while doing so. Moreover, the Skype service I purchased enabling cheap mobile-to-mobile communications became virtually unusable, as it dropped calls every minute or two without fail.
Now, before the most trusting among you chime in with the well-worn response, "I have nothing to hide, so why should I worry?", consider this: all governments (even the U.S. government), when given unregulated power in any area of societal oversight, inevitably gravitate towards dark deeds and wrong-doing. And this eavesdropping program is no exception. What matters most here is the fact that there is currently NO regulation over precisely what the NSA may or may not listen to, as the US government effectively granted them carte blanche via the Patriot Act in 2001. This should give all Americans, regardless of their political persuasion, reason to shudder. Enter Google.
Immediately after learning about the Microsoft-NSA partnership, we set about finding an alternative communication solution. My fiancée had recently opened a Gmail account and in exploring the offerings there, discovered Google Hangouts. I had been a Gmail fan for some time, but had never bothered to check out Google's other services.
Once we confirmed one another in our circles (Google's term for groups), we gave Google Hangouts a try. Not only were the video and audio signals clearer, but, on those rare occasions when it dropped us, it quickly and effectively restored communication. Moreover, being able to create a private circle that restricted others from joining was also reassuring. Even while using Skype in its heyday, our communication was occasionally compromised by unwanted audio bleed-through from other conversations. This never occurred with Google Hangouts. In fact, the only peculiarity we encountered was the bothersome creation of conversation tags on our Google+ pages after each call. Admittedly, they were easy to delete, but I wish they could be prevented via the settings menu. Other than that minor annoyance, the service worked reliably and transparently, just as we had hoped.
Certainly, Google's establishment of Google+ and Google Hangouts wasn't an altruistic one. Companies like Google gobble up and bloody smaller competitors with alarming regularity. Will Google make a similarly shady deal in the future? Perhaps. But for now, Google seems content to simply provide better voice and video conferencing while still protecting our privacy. However, if history has taught us anything, it's that we all need to pay attention and act accordingly, or suffer the loss of privacy and other rights through apathy and blind trust. It is our choice—for now—so let us all choose wisely.
