TOM Group said yesterday it had adhered to Chinese laws, after security experts revealed the media and Internet firm was archiving politically sensitive messages sent using Skype.
“TOM Group reiterated that as a Chinese company, we adhere to rules and regulations in China where we operate our businesses. We have no other comment,” the Hong Kong-based group said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for TOM Group, which is part of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s (李嘉誠) business empire, refused to answer any other questions about its operations, including whether it monitors messages sent in Hong Kong.
Skype, the online text message and voice service owned by auction giant eBay, acknowledged on Thursday that its Chinese partner TOM Online had been archiving politically sensitive text messages.
Citizen Lab, a group of computer security experts at the University of Toronto, revealed that TOM Online was spying on TOM-Skype users in China and collecting messages with specific keywords.
Citizen Lab said the messages, with words such as “Tibet,” “Communist Party” or “Democracy,” contained Internet addresses, usernames and other information which could make the senders and recipients easily identifiable.
Skype president Josh Silverman said in a statement that TOM Online “just like any other communications company in China, has established procedures to meet local laws and regulations.”
However, Skype said it had been unaware that the sensitive Internet chat was being stored on computer servers by TOM Online.
TOM Group, originally a dot-com startup, but now a media and advertising company combined, has increasingly focused on the Chinese market.
In 2006, TOM said it removed 40 percent of its Chinese Web site postings on TOM.com following an order from Beijing to weed out “harmful” Internet content.
A number of US companies, including Microsoft and Google have been accused of complicity in building what has been called the “Great Firewall of China.”
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