I've seen several stories about this lately that I think warrant some thought. Here are three in no special order. My thoughts are below

TalQer hacks Skype
I’m not quite sure how Skype are going to react to this considering how they operate a proprietary protocol.

Charlie Paglee has announced that TalQer has managed to hack Skype so that once TalQer is installed there will be a new gold dial button in Skype that will call your contact with TalQer instead of SkypeOut

then

TalQer - Plug-In for Skype and Google Talk
TalQer (pronounced “Talker”) is a Plug-In for Skype AND Google Talk
which allow users to make phone calls to regular phones anywhere in the world at a significant savings over SkypeOut rates! Skype and Google Talk users both can now take advantage of TalQer’s exciting new features.

The latest version of TalQer integrates with the Skype User Interface to add a new gold dial button which allows Skype users to make outgoing calls using TalQer instead of using SkypeOut. TalQer integrates with the Skype UI so that users are able to call SkypeOut Contacts by highlighting the contact and then clicking on the gold TalQer dial button. Skype History entries can be highlighted and called in the same manner.

followed by a TechCrunch story by Mike Arrington that isn't coming up now to quote.

First, to set the stage, I find Skype losing relevance in my world daily. I'm using it less and less as time goes by. TalQer isn't something that interests me particularly, although certainly the idea of opening Skype is intriguing. Skype's closed nature is one factor in its spiraling relevance. I've written before that I think there's trouble on the horizon for Skype in 2007.

The question in my mind, and it's only in my mind because I don't care enough to pursue it, is whether a user can employ a reverse engineering solution and not violate T&C conditions with Skype. I know there's been discussion about whether vendors and technical types can legally reverse engineer Skype. The general consensus is that's quite legal.

But if I read all this correctly, TalQer now places buttons into the Skype client. While TalQer might be able to reverse engineer the protocols, hacking the client to insert buttons, I think presents a different issue. Maybe not with APIs and such. I don't know enough to say. I do know enough to say I personally look askance at that sort of thing unless it's done in open partnership and collaboration.

Just a thought.