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

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.

Comments

Good advertising for Telegram

[Opportunist]

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?

Re:Good advertising for Telegram

[lfourrier]

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.

Re:Good advertising for Telegram

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Good advertising for Telegram

[Freischutz]

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.

Re:Good advertising for Telegram

[Actually, I do RTFA]

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?

Re: Good advertising for Telegram

[mSparks43]

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.

It's Russia, After All

[some old guy]

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.

EXTREME ignorance of technology

[Futurepower(R)]

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.

Sick of anti-Russia bias

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

The lead developer of Telegram deserves credit.

[Qbertino]

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.

Re: NO differ FROM USA

[K. S. Kyosuke]

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