Microsoft has made it more difficult to monitor conversations over its Skype service in China after teaming up with Guangming Founder (GMF).
The deal comes not long after the Chinese government stepped up censorship of the Internet and ending an eight-year joint venture with Hong Kong-based TOM Group.
Advocacy group GreatFire said: "After careful analysis of the new Skype, we believe that Microsoft have lifted all censorship restrictions on their China product.
"All user calls, chats and login information are encrypted and being communicated directly to Microsoft via HTTPS.
"This is a complete about-face for Microsoft from the TOM-Skype era, when all information was processed by TOM and stored by TOM on servers located in China with absolutely no privacy controls in place."
The latest version is different from the international version of Skype, which is hosted by the GMF in a server positioned in China, and will be fully under the control of Microsoft.
