Crash the System

Skype’s Heartbeat blog recently posted an explanation of why there was a massive Skype outage affecting millions of customers on Thursday, August 16th carrying through until Friday. Their explanation was that there was a bug in the Skype client software that was made evident by a major Windows Update that culminated in the simultaneous rebooting of machines throughout the globe.

While it seems plausible on the surface, if you look at how Windows Updates actually work, it seems far less so. Even if set at the default time of 3 in the morning for a Windows update and restart, this has some randomisation built in, and it goes by the local system clock.  If EVERYone in the world had his computer set to reboot at 3 in the morning, they still wouldn’t all reboot at once because there’s simply more than one time zone in the world.

They go on to say:

Normally Skype’s peer-to-peer network has an inbuilt ability to self-heal, however, this event revealed a previously unseen software bug within the network resource allocation algorithm which prevented the self-healing function from working quickly. Regrettably, as a result of this disruption, Skype was unavailable to the majority of its users for approximately two days.

Again, this seems a little less than truth. Massive Windows updates have happened hundreds upon hundreds of times since Skype’s inception, and this bug only just now cropped up?

Mathaba News Agency reveals their take on the reason behind the Skype outage, which, while a bit over the top, is at least as plausible as the Skype “we had this bug that suddenly cropped up out of nowhere even though it’s existed on our network for years and years” explanation.

It does seem far more likely that a poorly-tested and rushed software update was likely the cause of this error than simple random chance, but with Skype covering its tracks by blaming other companies, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know the truth behind the outage.

Perhaps if Skype had opened its communications protocol instead of clamping down on it in an effort to squeeze as much money from third-party developers as possible, any actual bugs in the system might have been discovered and fixed years ago instead of cropping up all of a sudden for no stated reason.  This is the hazard of relying upon Skype for stability and security instead of a provider that uses a more open protocol such as SIP.  There’s no way to really know what’s going on behind the scenes.

A recent study by CNET shows that, among the top five search engines, Ask.com is the one paying the most attention to privacy concerns.

Many of the top online search engines retain their search data for long periods of time, increasing the risk that the data could be used to link online search behaviour to individuals. Some of the search engines also use this collection of data in order to specifically target ads toward the end user based on searches and search behaviour.

While many people don’t see a down side to having a search history of their searches available, it’s becoming a growing concern as more companies are using data mining techniques to attempt to build profiles of individuals. These profiles are often used for employment or credit purposes, but such data could be used by everyone from attorneys in civil suits to nosy neighbors if it’s not kept well-guarded.

Last year, AOL released the data of 650,000 users’ searches, partially anonymised, but even anonymous search data contains  some disturbing revelations and could be used to tie people to search habits and behavioural traits — especially if one indulges in a vanity search. Then, it becomes an easy matter to tie a person to a list of search terms.  While many people search for the necessities of life, some search randomly or even search based on terms found in online news stories, blissfully unaware that such terms might then be used to paint a picture of their life or interests.

Many younger people are suddenly discovering what a bad idea it was to post personal information on sites like MySpace when out looking for a job later on in life, but search data can show an even more intimate snapshot into a person’s life. Left unguarded, companies might begin using such information to build a profile of employable candidates or employment risks.

Public outcry has been enough to make some companies think twice about how secure their search data is, but until set rules are passed on how much data may be accumulated, and what may be done with it, companies are somewhat free to do what  they please with their search data. It is wise to know how your favourite search engine ranks in terms of its commitment to your privacy.