Skype's proprietary scrambling technology is purportedly the bane of electronic spies at the NSA and GCHQ, and now in a move sure to spark conspiracy theories, eBay has quietly revealed it could rip out and replace the code at its core. In a regulatory filing this week, the online auction house said it might substitute Skype's encrypted peer to peer technology, which it has licensed from a company named Joltid. "Skype has begun to develop alternative software to that licensed through Joltid," eBay told US regulators. "However, such software development may not be successful, may result in loss of functionality or customers even if successful, and will in any event be expensive," it warned.
