There was a wildly terrifying story published late Friday on Slate that didn’t get much attention because of the time of the week it was released.

In it, the author – Ryan Gallagher – lays out how Microsoft (MSFT) seems to have made some subtle and (to most) imperceptible changes to the popular Skype calling service that allows it to eavesdrop on all of your calls going forward. (Forbes contributor Anthony Wing Kosner flagged the service changes in an earlier post published July 18.)

Although it’s not completely clear, some seem to think that Microsoft may have made the changes either from or in anticipation of pressure from various government entities.