Skype has announced it is pulling Skype for Windows Mobile phones and Skype Lite for Java handsets, including Android.
The download pages for Windows Mobile and Java have been removed from Skype’s site, although existing users will not lose functionality for either Skype for Windows Mobile or Skype Lite, the company said on Thursday.

Microsoft has rescinded the copyright complaint that resulted in the shutdown of the long-standing whistleblower website, Cryptome.org, after it published Redmond’s spy guide for law enforcement.

The company said it has asked Cryptome’s ISP, Network Solutions, that the website be restored and that it no longer wants the offending document to be killed. On Wednesday, Cryptome hosted a 22-page PDF that outlines what information Microsoft gathers about its users and what can be handed over to authorities if required.

Similar guidelines for law enforcement have leaked their way to the website before, exposing the policies of Facebook, AOL, Skype, and Yahoo, among others.

Microsoft lawyers swung the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) in an attempt to force Cryptome to pull the document. When it refused to take action, Microsoft complained to Network Solutions, which not only closed the website, but placed a lock on the Cryptome.org domain to keep it closed.

NEW YORK — Verizon Wireless and Skype announced a partnership Tuesday to bring the Internet calling service to nine of the carrier’s 3G smartphones beginning in March.

With the free Skype Mobile application, Verizon (VZ, Fortune 500) smartphone users can make and receive unlimited free calls to other users who have Skype.

They can also use it to call any international phone number at Skype’s standard rates, which are much lower than Verizon’s international wireless calling rates. Calls abroad through Skype start at 2.1 cents per minute, and monthly unlimited packages are also available. The app will also let Skype users exchange instant messages.

“With any partnership, we’re looking to do what our consumers want. In this case, they asked for Skype to be untethered from their PCs,” Skype’s chief executive, Josh Silverman, told CNNMoney.com.

eBay’s latest move, some of the auction site’s devotees say, is straight out of the Ministry of Truth’s playbook.

The company made an announcement on Tuesday announcement about lowering the listing fees for items–even though, in many cases, final value fees will be raised. The company’s discussion forums simmered with outrage over the executive decision, and frustration over the lack of other options for auction-style e-commerce.

The leader of the Mozilla Project, whose Firefox Web browser now has 350 million users, said Sunday that she is concerned that legal restrictions could limit Internet expansion.

Users wanting to call home from abroad are increasingly turning to Skype’s Internet telephony service to the detriment of international carriers, new data showed.

Privately held Skype has forged deals with consumer electronics makers LG Electronics and Panasonic in a bid to move its Internet video service beyond the desktop computer to the living room TV.
The service, which includes free video calls between Skype members, will compete with consumer video conference services being developed by bigger companies such [...]

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – EBay has completed its sale of Skype for about $2 billion to an investor group that included the founders of the Internet phone service.
Last week, the online auction site settled a legal skirmish with co-founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis which allowed the deal to move forward. The settlement gave [...]

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Now that eBay has vaulted a major hurdle in its efforts to sell Skype, the Web telephony service must prove it can make it on its own.
Since its founding six years ago, Skype has built up a roster of more than 520 million registered customers who use the free Web service [...]

* Skype founders to get stake, board seat–report
* Index, Volpi dropped from investment group–report
* Skype founders to drop other claims against eBay–report
LOS ANGELES, Nov 3 (Reuters) – A settlement is near in a lawsuit that could have blocked eBay Inc (EBAY.O) from selling a majority stake in Web phone service Skype to Index Ventures and [...]