| Skype maintains information related to you in six places: the Skype central authentication server, Skype account servers, the Skype event server, the global index in the Skype P2P network cloud on the Internet, your computer, and other Skype users' computers. The Skype central authentication server stores data about all valid Skype users. This database does not accept queries. Specifically, it stores your Skype Name, your e-mail address, and an encrypted representation of your password. This representation is stored, technically speaking, as a one-way encrypted hash of your password for the purposes of allowing you to log in to the network or reset your password, should the need arise. Skype account servers collect and process statistics about Skype phone calls for the sole purpose of operating the Skype service. Skype-to-Skype traffic data is collected only in the aggregate. Skype Technologies does not track information about which users are communicating with one another over the Skype network or the duration of these interactions. Information about SkypeIn and SkypeOut calls is collected and processed. If you have SkypeOut credit, information about the calls you place is collected to maintain your account balance. The Skype event server is a database that Skype employs as a cache to store temporarily a copy of certain types of information, such as voicemail messages. If at all possible, Skype does not maintain copies of information. In the event that the intended recipient is not online for an extended period, however, the message is stored in the event server to ensure that it is delivered reliablythat is, when the recipient comes online next, at which time the message is delivered and deleted from the cache. The global index maintains your computer's last network address, the network address, your Skype application's supernode, and your current Skype user profile. All profile data in the public directory is digitally signed. Your computer stores the installed version of Skype, any residual copies of Skype installation files that have not been deleted, voice-mail message files (for messages that have already been transferred from the caller's computer), call logs, chat logs, and a file called config.xml that (among other things) contains the Skype Names of people in your Contacts List. Note that chat logs are stored as application data as HTML in the format skypename.html, where skypename is the Skype Name of the Skype user with whom you have chatted. Note that by default, chat logs are saved indefinitely unless you delete them. Chat logs are stored in a hidden directory under the user's home directory. You can configure Skype to delete them, however, or set them to expire after a given period of time. Here are the locations of the folders where Skype stores data: Other Skype users' computers may contain traces of information and conversations they have had with you. In particular, their Contacts Lists might list you as a Skype user, regardless of whether you have given them authorization to communicate with you. If you and the other user have not been logged on to the Skype network at the same time, any unsent voicemail messages may be present on the other user's computer. The other user's Skype call log may reflect that the two of you have communicated or attempted to communicate. And his chat logs may contain pieces of conversations he has had with you.
Warning About your Skype password: Skype Technologies never, under any circumstances, requests your Skype account name or password by e-mail. Your Skype password should remain completely secret. The only place your Skype password is ever required is for logging into your Skype account through the Skype application or the Skype Web site. If you want to create a new password, you can go to your account page on the Skype Web site if you provided a valid e-mail address in your Skype profile.
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