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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.

2 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: 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.