How Skype Is Helping Topple a Dictator in Syria

The toolbox of the average rebel fighting in Syria is full of things you have probably never touched: an AK-47, grenades, sniper rifle. But it also has something you might use every day: Microsoft Skype.

Skype is the go-to social network for communication between rebels, anti-government activists, journalists and officials inside and outside of Syria.

Why? Skype uses wiretapping-resistant Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, making it safer for transmitting messages while under the watchful eyes and ears of government censors. It's free to download and easy to use, both positives for cash-strapped rebels and activists. Its video-based chatting makes it easier to identify the person on the other line, important when verifying information as legit amidst the fog of war. And it provides an easy way for Syrians to gather electronically in areas where assembling in person poses too great a security risk.

"Skype was big in Libya, but it was just kind of emerging and the conflict was shorter," said Lara Setrakian, founder of Syria Deeply, the dedicated Syria news startup. "Skype is now where you go first. And we've been invited into private chat rooms, we've had some of them translated for us in real time. That is where rebel groups are posting updates and activists inside and out are having conversations."

Setrakian said that Syrian rebels have been smart about their Internet use in order to fly under the radar of government monitors.

"They've done a lot of savvy dodging, things like everyone using electricity at the same time of day to gate-crash censors, using satellite connections in hope those are better in terms of Internet," she said. "They know in Syria that Skype itself is not compromised ... but if the government gets into your computer, it may be able to access your contact list and that would compromise your contacts."

"But that doesn't seem to be stopping anyone," she added, "and what we have found is that activists inside the country, they figure Skype is better than the phone and any other option they've had, so they're willing to take that risk."

There are some technology experts among the rebels and activists — but they've also been getting help from the outside. The U.S. State Department has been actively working to keep Syrians connected despite Internet blackouts and other obstructions, including the threat of government monitors and malware.

"The U.S. State Department has been providing a considerable amount of non-lethal assistance with a pretty significant focus on technology to the Syrian opposition," a U.S. government official told Mashable. He added that a part of that assistance is training on the safe use of communications technology, including Skype.

"I've read in some circles people have referred to this particular crisis as the 'Skype Revolution' much as the Iranian revolution was referred to as the 'Twitter Revolution,'" said the official.

"I've read in some circles people have referred to this particular crisis as the 'Skype Revolution' much as the Iranian revolution was referred to as the 'Twitter Revolution,'" said the official. "I would say that Skype is a primary means of communication for folks within the country and for folks outside the country as well."

In addition to training, the State Department has also been providing Syrian activists with equipment to stay connected. The equipment, which is at least partially satellite-based, was put into "great use" during a country-wide Internet blackout last year, according to the official.

"We equipped the activists so they can communicate where there are no government networks where there's no cell phone or Internet coverage," said the official.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland previously told Syria Deeply that the communications equipment provided to rebels keeps them "secure from regime tampering, from regime listening, from regime interruption."

The official said he has attempted to work with Microsoft to add additional security measures to Skype, but said that it was "mostly a one-way conversation." Microsoft did not return a request for comment for this article.

Skype, for all its advantages, requires an Internet connection to work — a connection the rebels have been working hard to establish and preserve with outside help. The rebels, said the official, deserve credit for leveraging communications technologies "often in a novel way." When asked about those methods, the official declined to comment for security reasons, but did say that "most of them have to do with augmenting these networks in a certain ways that are not necessarily intended."

"It's extremely impressive that all available technologies are being deployed by the Syrian opposition," said the official.

Photo via Khalil Mazraawi/AFP/Getty Images