Skype summoned to Belgian court after company fails to provide requested call data

Skype is now being ordered to appear in a Belgian court after the company disregarded orders from a judge to hand over call data.

The call data in question was requested in relation to a currently ongoing criminal investigation, according to Reuters.

Skype officials are being ordered to appear in a court in Mechelen, Belgium. The court will now also determine whether or not Skype is a telecom company, according to Venture Beat.

By Belgian law, telecom operators are required to give law enforcement officials access to call data as long as the order comes directly from a judge. Skype not handing over the call data in question could possibly amount to a criminal offense if the company continues to hold out even after they have been determined to be a telecom company. If Skype still refuses to hand over the call data after being identified as a telecom company, they could face a steep fine from the Belgian court.

The Mechelen examining magistrate together with the public prosecutor's office believe that Skype should be identified as a telecom company as it relates to Belgian law.

Skype's entanglement with the Belgian court began three years earlier after an examining magistrate in Mechelen requested specific call data from the company. The Belgian law enforcement officials are requesting access to Skype-to-Skype call data involving two Armenian criminals. The two criminals were making the Skype calls in Belgium, according to PC World.

Law enforcement officials in Belgium and several other countries in Europe have faced very little difficulty as it relates to obtaining essential data concerning land line calls and mobile phones, because they could simply acquire the data from telecom companies. The same officials have not been as successful in acquiring the same kind of data from Internet-based service providers.

Microsoft, Skype's owner, has not commented on the issue.