Here's one endorsement Skype probably could have done without: the Taliban's.

It's been reported that Taliban operatives are using their VoIP software to communicate and "evade detection" on the battlefield in Afghanistan. The Evening Standard, among other news sites, covered this story recently.

From Skype's perspective, this could be considered among the worst of all possible PR crisiseseses. But from where I sit, it's not all bad publicity. Allow me to explain. Within the ES article, an anonymous security source had this to say:

"The trouble with this technology is that it is easily available but devilishly hard to crack. The technology can now be accessed on mobile internet devices and the country’s mobile phone network is expanding rapidly."

I think Skype may have just found its new marketing pitch: "Easily available and devilishly hard to crack!" See, I'm always looking on the bright side.

Is VoIP the way forward? Is the landline about to go the way of the telegraph or slide rule? That's what Zack Whittaker over at ZDNet.com asked the blogosphere recently. In his popular iGeneration blog, he writes: "With all the technology we hold today; unified communications, interoperability amongst technologies, protocols spreading and sharing rules, an ever expanding phone and networked systems - are we really heading towards a VoIP only world?"