Fons noted, correctly, that it is odd that it is only US companies that get flack for aiding China’s censorship. With that, Businessweek reports that Hong Kong’s Tom.com and the Luxembourg-based Skype Technologies (now owned by eBay) agreed to censor Skype’s instant messaging service.:

Skype had a dilemma. The Internet telephony and messaging service wanted to enter China with TOM Online (TOMO), a Beijing company controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing. Li’s people told their Skype Technologies (EBAY) partners that, to avoid problems with the Chinese leadership, they needed filters to screen out words in text messages deemed offensive by Beijing. No filtering, no service.

At first Skype executives resisted, says a source familiar with the venture. But after it became clear that Skype had no choice, the company relented: TOM and Skype now filter phrases such as “Falun Gong” and “Dalai Lama.” Neither company would comment on the record.

Gordon noted at Rebecca’s groundbreaking post, that the MSN messenger service also seems to filter messages. AsiaPundit has not seen anything to indicate that Skype has implemented any means for state authorities to listen in to voice-over-internet calls. Although there is also no information to the contrary.

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