Skype's Chinese partner Tom Online is filtering text messages and Skype has gone ahead and defended this action as necessary for compliance with Chinese laws. Messages with references to Dalai Lama, Falun Gong spiritual group and other sensitive topics had been censored by Tom Online.

This is what Skype chief executive Niklas Zennstrom had to say on the censorship:

I may like or not like the laws and regulations to operate businesses in the UK or Germany or the US, but if I do business there I choose to comply with those laws and regulations. I can try to lobby to change them, but I need to comply with them. China in that way is not different.

Already companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have received the flak for cooperating with the Chinese government's effort to censor internet content.

Now one must not forget that China along with Germany and U.S. is one of the Skype's biggest markets in terms of active users of its free telephony service which routes encrypted calls between computers via the internet and who in business sense would like to forgo this piece of pie? Certainly China presents immense opportunities for Skype in terms of business and which company would like to forgo such business opportunity even if it means supporting any evil actions.

Accepting the Chinese law could also mean that Skype was trying that its SkypeOut could see the light of the day soon. Certainly China and Skype are setting up a bad example by curbing freedom of expression.