Before US law enforcement officials shut down the Megaupload file sharing web site and arrested several of its employees earlier this month, the FBI obtained a search warrant from a US judge to obtain conversations between Megaupload employees. News.com reports that some of those conversations were critical of Megaupload"s founder, Kim Dotcom.
Some of the records go back to 2007 and used both email and Skype IM logs. One chat log from an unnamed Megaupload employee stated that there were worries that Kim Dotcom was not "safe with his money". The chat files added that some employees felt that "the current situation is a bit risky."
At the moment, it"s unknown as to how FBI investigators managed to obtain access to these Skype chat logs. Skype itself says it only stores the IM chat logs of its users for up to 30 days. Skype said they were not asked by the FBI to turn over any files and were never served with any court papers by the government.
The article hints that the FBI might have installed some kind of spyware on the PCs of Megaupload employees and obtained their chat and email conversations in that manner. The FBI has installed a type of spyware called CIPAV on suspects" PCs as part of its investigations in the past few years. It has been used to help with cases involving child molesters, hackers and organized criminals.