Skype summoned to Belgian court over failure to share call data

A page from the Skype website is seen in Lausanne May 10, 2011.

/Denis Balibouse

Online communication service Skype (MSFT.O) has been summoned to appear in court in Belgium after refusing to pass on customer data to aid a criminal investigation, a court spokesman said.A court in Mechelen, just north of Brussels, had asked for data from messages and calls exchanged on Microsoft-owned Skype, arguing that telecom operators in the country were required to do so."The judicial question is whether Skype is also a telecoms operator," the court spokesman said, adding that Skype would have to pass on the data if this was established to be the case. It could also face a fine. Skype was not immediately available for comment. (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Robin Pomeroy)