Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) has applied for a patent on technology that may let its user secretly intercept Voice over IP (VoIP) communications, amend the content and store it.
The application was filed in December 2009 and was recently made public.
The technology could allow the monitoring of conversations, voice messages and video conferences over a variety of devices, including smartphones, laptops and gaming devices.
This technology may have been developed with an eye to selling it to government agencies.
“Sometimes a government or one of its agencies may need to monitor communications between telephone users,” the patent application reads.
Microsoft spokesperson Emma Mahoney pointed out that the application is still being processed.
(original post here)
“The [U.S. Patent office] will publish patent applications approximately 18 months after a company files a patent application,” Mahoney told TechNewsWorld. “It is one stage of the application process.”
Mahoney declined to discuss the technology further.
