MANILA, Philippines – The New York Times has a new report up regarding security concerns with Skype, the voice and video mesaging service.

The report mentions a secret program set up by a small group within Skype. Called Project Chess, the program was made “to explore the legal and technical issues in making Skype calls readily available to intelligence agencies and law enforcement officials.”

Project Chess began 5 years ago, before Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype in October 2011. A document leaked by Edward Snowden, a former contractor with the National Security Agency (NSA), pointed to Skype joining Prism on Feb 6, 2011.

Currently, it seems Microsoft executives have stopped affirming earlier statments made by Skype saying that calls on the service could not be wiretapped. Frank X. Shaw, a Microsoft spokesman, declined to comment on The New York Times story.

Since the issue surrounding Prism was raised, tech companies have been trying to stay on the opposite end of the conflict. Companies like Microsoft, Google, and Apple have requested permission or sought judgments allowing for greater transparency when state security agencies ask for information. – Rappler.com