One of the easiest ways of staying in touch online for almost twelve years has been via Instant Message Services.

ICQ became the first Internet-wide instant messaging service, being released in November 1996.

How secure are IM services though?

With law enforcement agencies, ISPs, and ‘others’ able to ‘listen in’, how private are your messages?

A lot of people seem to think that they can use services such as Skype, Google Talk and Jabber with impunity, but is this really the case?

Which is the least secure service?

A recent survey by Cnet covered a number of areas, including encryption and secure login.

Another question asked was whether government wire tapping was permitted.

The responses are scary, and it would be best go with the most secure network possible.

I’m not sure how tools such as Skypephone would be affected, but it would be worth checking out.

Read the report by Declan McCullagh here!

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