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Turkey Rolls Out Domestic Rival To WhatsApp, Raising Surveillance Concerns (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the setting-precedence dept.

Turkey has launched a domestic messaging app to rival Facebook's popular WhatsApp Messenger service, raising concerns among government critics that Ankara (capital of Turkey) could use the new platform to tighten surveillance and bolster an 18-month-old crackdown. From a report: The app, called PttMessenger after Turkey's Post and Telegraph General Directorate (PTT), was introduced in a limited roll-out to state institutions and some private companies this week. It is expected to be publicly available in six months. PttMessenger will provide a "system safer than WhatsApp," government spokesman Bekir Bozdag told a news conference. "Since no data is stored with the host, it will be impossible to access these data. A system safer than WhatsApp has been developed." Critics cast doubt on the suggestion PttMessenger data could not be retrieved, fearing it will give authorities greater ability to monitor dissent, pointing to the widespread crackdown that was launched after a failed military coup in July 2016.

36 comments

  1. Totally trust this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Governments have never lied to their populace about surveillance...

    1. Re:Totally trust this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd sooner trust a 20 pounder on Thanksgiving Day.

    2. Re:Totally trust this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They should definitely keep using WhatsApp, which has zero US surveillance.

  2. Surveillance is a given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd expect that the first goal is to have something like whatsapp, but in the goatfucker's government hands instead of the USoA's.

    Whether they're going to try and supplant USian apps with local ones for the entire population, Chinese style, remains to be seen. It's certainly not impossible, of course.

  3. oh, get over it by Antiocheian · · Score: 0

    The coup has failed and the Turkish people are OK with Erdogan. Turkey, thankfully for Turks, didn't have a "spring" from the west.

    1. Re:oh, get over it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There was never a real coup - you think the military would launch a coup without even knowing where the head of state was?
      His plane was supposedly intercepted by conspirators in jets, who were 'persuaded' to return to being loyal... all in time for Erdogan to arrest more than 50,000 opposition supporters, shut down all opposition media and arrest their reporters, eliminate opposition supporters from schools, and purge the military of anyone not personally loyal to Erdogan.
      Despite all that, he still runs at less than 50% popularity. Even after the 'coup, he barely broke 60%, and it's been back done for a long time. But hey - maybe if he manages to genocide the Kurds, his popularity will rise again - most Turks really hate the Kurds.

      The West should take note: This is how a civilized first-world nation descends into a third-world dictatorship. 1918 and 1933 were the last times we saw this. At least there aren't 6 million Kurds for him to kill...

    2. Re:oh, get over it by johanw · · Score: 0

      There are still some Armenians left who escaped their last attempt.

  4. Istanbul, not Constantinople by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    It's nobody's business but the Turks.

    1. Re:Istanbul, not Constantinople by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If nobody from any other country had to communicate and do business with Turks, then you might have had a case. As it stands, however ...

    2. Re:Istanbul, not Constantinople by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would be fantastic if they stuck to minding their own business and pulling their own crapule Turks back to their country, close the gates, trew away the keys and kept to themselves. Instead they can't stop interfering and messing up any and all societies they can get their hands on.

    3. Re:Istanbul, not Constantinople by rickb928 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Turks emigrated to Europe for 20 years or more, they could do it again. Since choosing where you live is a big deal, they will choose.

      If they are allowed to.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    4. Re:Istanbul, not Constantinople by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would be fantastic if they stuck to minding their own business and pulling their own crapule Turks back to their country, close the gates, trew away the keys and kept to themselves. Instead they can't stop interfering and messing up any and all societies they can get their hands on.

      would be fantastic if the TMBG joke didn't sail right over your head

  5. US shouldn't point fingers with NSA extension by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Given the NSA spying was just extended again, the US has no business pointing fingers at anyone nor does anyone in Washington have the right to consider themselves American. If they can spend more time finding ways to block Trump, your current sitting President but have no problem spying on everyone.

  6. I believe the critics. by robkill · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Almost 20 years ago, my company gave a brief presentation to visitors from the Turkish National Police. They wanted network traffic monitoring tools to expose people visiting "illegal websites". I'm sure the mindset hasn't changed since then.

    --
    DMCA - Chilling free speech since 1998.
    1. Re:I believe the critics. by aglider · · Score: 1

      Every ISP is spying on customers' traffic.
      Turkish, American, Chinese ... you name it.

      --
      Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
  7. Turkey Rolls - Yummy!! by amalcolm · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm hungry !!!

    --
    Time for bed, said Zebedee - boing
  8. Concerns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    We should instead be concerned about how none of these messaging networks can talk to each other. IM should work like email, but it doesn't, and nobody has a good reason why.

    1. Re:Concerns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They can't talk to each other This might be its actual strength, not its weakness. One would not be able to be associated with a insert your local jihadist or extremist or bigot or knuckle dragger here unless he was *in* your IM network.

    2. Re:Concerns by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We should instead be concerned about how none of these messaging networks can talk to each other. IM should work like email, but it doesn't, and nobody has a good reason why.

      Sure they do ... branding, vendor lock-in, and ad revenue.

      Companies aren't interested in building something interoperable like email of the phone system, they want you to be stuck using their platform so they can monetize your habits, collect your data, and sell it -- or at least sell ads based off it. It's entirely about vendor lock in, and if you haven't figured this out, you're clueless.

      In this case, it's not so much about asshole corporations who want to monetize your experience, it's about an asshole tyrant who wants to secure more control over his people ... because make no mistake, Erdogan is an asshole and a tyrant. He's batshit crazy, and wants to cement absolute power for himself, and wants to outlaw criticizing or disagreeing with him -- eerily like Trump, actually.

      Me, I have no intention of using shit like this which benefits either corporations or governments, I simply don't care. All you fools who can't live without a chat application on your phone which is there to collect your information can do that, but I refuse to.

      I'd say 99% of all apps exist to collect your data or sell you ads. Fuck that.

  9. This should be fun. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm looking forward to reading what someone finds after reverse engineering the app... and then what happens to that person.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:This should be fun. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same thing that happen to people who interfere with Democrat plans of Clinton or Soros: death. USA deep state is much worse than any other one and regular americans like me are not taking it any mores.

  10. Only works if anyone installs their computer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After knowing this? Duh.

  11. Re: Erdogan is going all Clinton on Turkey? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Vodka bonus, Comrade!

  12. Turkish govt owns the telecom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Turkish govt owns the telecom.
    Spend more than 7 days in Turkey and that smartphone SIM card stops working until you register it with the govt.

    Having been tear gassed in Turkey, I'm fairly certain the govt there cannot be trusted. They are afraid of their own people AND they have guns to quench their fear.

  13. Finally something more reasonable! by aglider · · Score: 1

    More than "no reasonable".

    --
    Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
  14. Sounds like where we're headed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I mean, isn't having a messaging app provided to you a basic human right? And if the free market fails to deliver it in just the way that some faction thinks it should, shouldn't the messaging-app-provisioning industry be regulated and eventually nationalized? Seems that no one sees that we're on the road to that ourselves, already.

  15. Monopoly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This thing is bad not only because of the surveillance and free speech aspect:

    1. Government, which is the worst monopoly capitalist of all, shouldn't compete with private businesses.

    2. Eventually all competing messaging systems will be shutdown so that everyone will be forced to use their crappy PttMessenger.

    3. Once they are government run, since they have a monopoly and also hold control of many other ththey have little real world incentive to provide decent service.

  16. It is a Signal fork by stikves · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They even admit it on Twitter. It was a fork of the open source Signal software, meaning there is a big potential violation of GPLv3 terms by the government:

    https://twitter.com/PTTKurumsa...

    "PttMessenger, signal tabanl açk kaynak kod kullanlarak gelitirilmitir. PttMessenger, tüm gelitirme haklar ile PTT A..'ye aittir.

    Zebrachat, PttMessenger'n gelitirme aamasnda kullanlan proje ve ürün addr."

    roughly:

    "PttMessenger is developed based on the open signal sources. All rights of PttMessenger belong to the PTT A.S.

    Zebrachat is a code name for a development snapshot of PttMessenger."

    I could not find the source code to neither PttMessenger nor Zebrachat. If they are indeed based on Signal (which has very good security btw.), this might become one of the highest profile open source copyright infringements.

  17. Giggity! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You had me at turkey rolls.

  18. Ergodan gets surveillance tips from Wiley Coyote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Ergodan: Come, peons, to my new communication service. I call it, The Totally Not-Backdoored and Trustworthy App to Discuss All Conspiracies and Plots. Did I mention it's FREE?

  19. Fools and their freedom are easlily parted. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You'd have to be the thickest of idiots to fall for that one. Thing is though, you might be smart, but what is the status of the individual you might communicate with?

  20. It's called "Will you marry me, single girl?" by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

    Source: Every single female friend I have who visited Turkey.