Skype Is Fined at the Amount of $36,000 in Belgium

• 11.22.2017, 15:34
•  Europe,  World,  Armenia,  Diaspora

irishtimes.com

Microsoft’s online communication service Skype lost an appeal in Belgium after it failed to comply with a court request to share data from messages and calls, Reuters reports.

The Belgian judge at the Antwerp-based appeals court had asked Skype to share data on a suspect in an organized crime investigation on the basis that telecoms operators in the country are subject to such a requirement. Skype said it was not a telecoms operator and did not have the technical capability to comply with the request.

The judgment, which confirmed the ruling of a lower court, said that Skype was "indisputably" a telecoms operator and that references in Belgian law to "telecommunication" included "electronic communication".

The court also upheld the 30,000-euro ($36,000) fine and dismissed Skype’s argument that Luxembourg, where Skype and its servers are based, could block such co-operation, as the data the court was looking for originated in Belgium.