We discussed this in one of my classes last week, comparing two companies - Vonage and Skype - and we touched on how the technology used by each is or isn't capable of wiretapping. I didn't get a lot of the details but the basic idea was that Skype's peer to peer system (these are the same guys that came up with Kazaa) is not really conducive to tapping, unless it connects to the more conventional telephone system, I think. Here's a good article on it:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2095777/There's also the point that I don't think this is even an American company, so I'm not sure they would have to comply with US regulations.
Anyway, I know this is rather off topic, but your post made me think of that class discussion. I'm a big fan of the peer to peer concept. It definitely poses a security risk, but I think decentralization is ultimately a good thing. I want to download Skype but unfortunately I think you can only call other Skype users. That makes it less likely to penetrate the market, which is unfortunate because I'd rather see the untappable Skype become the industry standard or popular brand or whatever the business term is.
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