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Russia Files Lawsuit To Block Telegram Messaging App (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Russia's state communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, has filed a lawsuit to block Telegram in the country because the instant messaging company has refused to hand over the encryption keys that would allow Russian authorities to read messages sent using the service. From a report: Ranked as the world's ninth most popular mobile messaging app, Telegram is widely used in countries across the former Soviet Union and Middle East. Active users of the app reached 200 million in March. As part of its services, Telegram allows users to communicate via encrypted messages which cannot be read by third parties, including government authorities. But Russia's FSB Federal Security service has said it needs access to some messages for its work, including guarding against terrorist attacks. Telegram has refused to comply with its demands, citing respect for user privacy.

30 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Good advertising for Telegram by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If a government moves to ban a program because said government can't use it to spy on its users, what more endorsement could you possibly need?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Good advertising for Telegram by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      what more endorsement could you possibly need?

      Roskomnadzor was my fav metal band in the 80s
      I still have many of their cassingles

    2. Re:Good advertising for Telegram by lfourrier · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It could be a propaganda operation, to encourage users from others country to migrate to a compromised system.
      Or not.
      But if you have enough paranoia to need some system like that, there is no limit to your untrust.

    3. Re:Good advertising for Telegram by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      "Respect for user privacy" is a good answer from Telegram, but I still think the best answer to law enforcement agents asking for keys is: "Sorry, but we don't have those". It's an even better one when those agents start demanding instead of asking.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    4. Re:Good advertising for Telegram by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      what more endorsement could you possibly need?

      Are you kidding? Telegram comes out of this looking relatively insecure and untrustworthy compared to most tech.

      Telegram is refusing to give the Russians access.

      If Telegram worked right, they would be telling the Russians, "We'll totally cooperate and will hand over anything we have. The problem is, we simply do not have the ability to give you access to users' conversations, because the users don't trust us with that."

      Why the fuck would software makers have access to users' data? That's downright weird. Do the authors of Postfix or Dovecot or Thunderbird have access to your emails? Does the makers of Chrome have access to your browsing hist-- shit, bad example. Do the authors of GnuPG and PGP know your passphrase? Can Microsoft access their users' Word/Excel documents?

      Under normal circumstances, pressuring the makers of software to get access to user data shouldn't ever have the possibility of bearing fruit. The only way it can work, is if the software was incompetently (or maliciously) designed.

    5. Re:Good advertising for Telegram by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They likely will bring the hammer as well to help things out.

      All countries do this. In the UK, a judge can demand the SSL/TLS ephemeral session keys (the ones that are used for a single time and tosses), then give someone four years in the clink, per key. No trial, no way to protest this. Germany also has laws taking someone directly to prison without trial if they don't cough up a key, even if they don't know it, or will never know it.

    6. Re:Good advertising for Telegram by Freischutz · · Score: 4, Informative

      It could be a propaganda operation, to encourage users from others country to migrate to a compromised system. Or not. But if you have enough paranoia to need some system like that, there is no limit to your untrust.

      In view of the fact that the Putin government is liable to have its thugs shoot you in the head on an open street, season your tea with Polonium 210, coat the door knob of your front door with a nerve agent, or dispose of you in some other way if you say things about Big Vlad and his corrupt posse that they don't like I'm not going to call Russians 'paranoid' for encrypting their communications, it's more like a sensible survival strategy.

    7. Re:Good advertising for Telegram by admin7087 · · Score: 1

      I don't know the exact demands of that Russian regulatory authority but judging from what I've read they seem to want access to the users' data. Unfortunately, anyone who makes software that directly processes such data can provide such access. Not in every country such a demand is lawful, though. I believe it is currently not possible to make the same demand in the continental EU and in the US, not 100% sure about it. But I do know that laws have been proposed to change that and are being discussed again and again. It's not as if a software maker could reasonably claim that it's technically impossible to implement mandatory key escrow or other means of accessing user data.

    8. Re:Good advertising for Telegram by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 2

      Why do you think the Telegram people are able to defy Putin and stay alive in Russia? Cause the FSB already has the keys. This is an advertisement for Telegram by the Russian government. The only question is: is the ad to encourage people to move to Telegram, or to convince the people with Telegram accounts they cannot crack them so they let out more sensitive data?

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    9. Re: Good advertising for Telegram by mSparks43 · · Score: 2

      quick run to Putin, i found them, they are in the source code: https://core.telegram.org/mtpr... ....
      otoh, methinks the fsb will have less success than the us did trying to block the AACS decryption key.

    10. Re: Good advertising for Telegram by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      That's pretty funny. Did you come up with that all on your own?

    11. Re: Good advertising for Telegram by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Yes. Unlike most people I use my head,

      That's a very generous interpretation of the situation.

      Thanks for admitting you made it all up, anyway.

  2. In soviet Russia we block you! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    In soviet Russia we block you!

  3. If some company HAS your keys.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If some company HAS your keys, then you're doing communications wrong.

    No, this isn't good PR for Telegram, because the suit itself proves that Telegram is completely insecure. And they could be forced by the court to openly divulge the keys. (They also might be forced or tricked to divulge the keys in other ways, perhaps unwittingly or secretly, which involve no courts.)

  4. no good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Fuck Russia. Fuck China. Fuck spying on people.

  5. It's Russia, After All by some+old+guy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's what they do.

    At least they're glaringly up front about it, unlike the US TLA's relying on phony FISA courts, hardware OEM back doors, and so on to accomplish the same thing.

    Give the Devil his due.

    --
    Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
  6. EXTREME ignorance of technology by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 2

    Most people who are involved with government agencies are EXTREMELY ignorant about technology. (And most people in general, also.)

    They don't realize that, if there is a back door, a key to decrypt, it will eventually be compromised. A government employee will give the key to someone who shouldn't have it. Or, hackers will eventually discover the key.

    1. Re:EXTREME ignorance of technology by emanuele_fanton · · Score: 1

      ...and this is not a problem for the authorities. Please just see reference for collateral effect.

  7. Sick of anti-Russia bias by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I am American and I am sick of the anti-Russia bias on liberal Slashdot.Org. Why SHOUDNT Russia have the rights to protect there own people against the threat of things like terrorism attacks? It is no doubt the USA deep state that pushes the idea that only the USA should be authorized to have access to all communications and that is rediculous. First USA and England use FAKE chemical weapon attack to hurt Russian diplomacy and now this. The west should be ashamed of ourselves.

    1. Re:Sick of anti-Russia bias by yurikhan · · Score: 1

      It would be nice if "Russia" (whatever that means) actually cared about protecting their own people from terrorist attacks.

      What they actually care about is protecting themselves and staying in power while labeling people who want privacy as terrorists.

  8. The lead developer of Telegram deserves credit. by Qbertino · · Score: 3, Insightful

    He left russia a few years back and took on the citizenship of a caribean microcountry in order to continue with Telegram unmolested. IIRC nobody knows his exact whereabouts or the whereabouts of the devteam - probably they're distributed around the planet and living the cyberpunk/diginomad lifestyle, flying under the radar most of the time. It sure takes some guts and wits to stick it to the FSB and other russian three-letter-authorities, you have to hand it to them. Nice job.

    Sidenote: I've been using Telegram for a few years now and really like it. Definitivly up there with Signal and Threema when in comes to worthy WhatsCrap alternatives.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  9. The problem with Telegram by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It has the technology to use ephemeral keys, and any user can do it by enabling a "private conversation."

    HOWEVER, for some reason, this is not done by default. The default settings use Telegram's own key for encryption.

    Telegram should only use ephemeral keys (like Signal). The typical user doesn't know what they're doing or that the default settings can be decrypted by Telegram; they need the defaults to do it right in the first place.

  10. Great news! by Murdoch5 · · Score: 1

    Any application which refuses to violate security, even to the face of a government, deserves an award. Governments have to learn they have no right to their people's communication.

  11. Comrade! Yes, you! by Provocateur · · Score: 1

    In Soviet Russia, it's Roskomnadz,or nothing at all!

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  12. Re:Not so different... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    >Even in the EU

    You say this like Europe is some paragon of free speech compared to America. Have you been living under a rock? Are you retarded?

  13. Russia already has the keys, of course by ioev · · Score: 1

    This is just some fake controversy to try to convince more people to use it.

  14. Re:NO differ FROM USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    USA are hippocrates. They spy on ALL nations and the peoples.

    Ancient Greek doctors?!?!?

  15. Re: NO differ FROM USA by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's not capitalized. Therefore, it's boxes you put horses in, not a name.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  16. Isn't it written by FSB? by Katatsumuri · · Score: 1

    I am confused.

  17. Re: Putin pees his pants every day by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

    Probably written in yellow colour.

    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap