Telegram is Riddled With Tens of Thousands of Piracy Channels; Apple and Google Have Ignored Requests From Creators To Take Action (theoutline.com)

joshtops writes: Instant messaging platform Telegram, which is used by more than 200 million users, has had an open secret since its inception: The platform has served as a haven for online pirates. The Outline reports that the platform is riddled with thousands of groups and channels, many with more than 100,000 members, whose sole purpose of existence is to share illegally copied movies, music albums, apps, and other content. The files are stored directly to Telegram's servers, allowing users to download movies, songs, and other content with one click. Channel admins told The Outline that they have not come across any resistance from Telegram despite the company, along with Apple and Google, maintaining a 'zero tolerance' stance on copyright infringement. This permissiveness on Telegram's part has led to the proliferation of a cottage industry of piracy marketplaces on the service.

[...] The Outline also discovered several groups and channels on Telegram in which stolen credentials -- i.e., the username and password for a website -- from Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, HBO, CBS, EA Sports, Lynda, Sling, WWE Network, Mega, India's Hotstar, and dozens of other services were being offered to tens of thousands of members each day. The Outline sourced nearly three-dozen free credentials from six Telegram channels, all of which worked as advertised. The report says that content creators have reached out to Apple, requesting the iPhone-maker to intervene, but the company has largely ignored the issue.

In an unrelated development, a Moscow court cleared the way on Friday for the local government to ban Telegram, the messaging app, over its failure to give Russian security services the ability to read users' encrypted messages.

Comments

Apple & Google are responsible how, exactly?

[Guspaz]

Apple and Google have no investment in Telegram, why should they be expected to solve this problem? You can use Safari and Chrome to download pirated stuff on your phone too, but I don't see anybody calling for Apple and Google to remove Safari and Chrome from telephones.

If creators have a beef with Telegram, take it up with Telegram Messenger LLP.

Good little shill

[DNS-and-BIND]

Well, it's certainly nice to see journalists standing up to little people and defending the intellectual property rights of the entertainment industry! Speak truth to the powerless! Let's see who this "The Outline" is:

The Outline is a new kind of publication for a new kind of human. We made this thing because we believe that the right story told in the right way can change someone's life. But telling the right stories for right now - and telling them in a way that's meaningful and modern - isn't going to happen by itself. We have to make it happen.

Our foundational reason for building The Outline is that we're really excited about putting something into the world that wasn't there before. Our coverage focuses on three topics that are increasingly converging in strange and important ways: power (who has it, who wants it, and what do they do when they get it?), culture (the way we live and communicate), and the future (where weâ(TM)re going next).

So, they tell themselves the comforting lie that they're edgy and on the side of the people...while cozying up to evil megacorporations. It's doublethink, the ability to hold two mutually contradictory thoughts at the same time without experiencing crippling cognitive dissonance. This talent is distressingly common among the chattering classes today. :( It used to be something rare and special, but now we see it all the time from publications that are supposed to know better.

Re:Good little shill

[Entrope]

Where do they claim they're on the side of the people? Their whole statement is essentially longhand for "we do propaganda".

Oh my!

[nospam007]

I don't believe it! News for nerds! Stuff that matters!
Something we didn't already read in our grandpa's paper newspaper*.
(* kids, that's like a large papery blog)

Thanks for the tips guys, downloading now...

Re:Apple & Google are responsible how, exactly

[dslauson]

Apple and Google have no investment in Telegram, why should they be expected to solve this problem?

Apple and Google, through their walled-garden app stores, have set themselves up as curators of content, and they regularly enforce things like this. They've brought that expectation upon themselves.

You can use Safari and Chrome to download pirated stuff on your phone too, but I don't see anybody calling for Apple and Google to remove Safari and Chrome from telephones.

Telegram is apparently hosting this infringing content on their own servers, which makes this much different. Obviously Telegram owns more culpability than Google/Apple here, but Google and Apple are acting against policies that they have set. Not sure how vulnerable that leaves them legally, though.

An entry from the FAQ

[nospam007]

Q: There's illegal content on Telegram. How do I take it down?

All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them.

Re:Apple & Google are responsible how, exactly

[fazig]

I'm not sure what they are supposed to do about that, since Google is also hosting tons of copyright infringing material on their own google drive. Because you know, you can't really control what kind of encrypted files people upload there and then share the links and passwords with others through any means. I'm not sure how the Apple cloud works, since I've never used it.

So what can be done here? Decrypt and scan all files? Not feasible because it takes too long and costs too much. Ban encryption? Theoretically an option, but do we really want something like this to happen? This list is certainly not exhaustive. If someone finds more ideas, maybe some that make sense, please add them.

Is communication bad?

[Cajun Hell]

So, Telegram is .. general-purpose? This is like worrying about the fact that Harry Mudd uses the same kind of spaceship fuel as the rest of us. Your problem is with Harry Mudd, not the spaceship fuel. If you make it about the spaceship fuel, you're going to become the enemy of many space captains.

OMG! People are sharing files / video / music!

[UnknownSoldier]

/sarcasm I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you that people are sharing files / video / music on the internet! Back in MY day we hoarded our one's and zero's! Only communists shared their data with a stranger. We practiced safe hex by being our corporate master's bitch!

Instead of asking the question: "When this many people are just outright ignoring copyright maybe this civil disobediance of Against Intellectual Property (written by a lawyer, go figure) is a call to re-think the archaic, capitalist concept of Copyright? Nah, let's go after Apple and Google instead which have NOTHING to do with this. "

Wait till these people find out that you can share "illegal numbers" through Skype, Google Drive, or even email !

Doesn't get much weaker

[brasselv]

This submission is bizarre.
Even for trolling standards, the "news" is unbelievably silly.

Any communication online (and offline for that matter) will be used to exchange illegal stuff.

You can replace "Telegram" with "Email", "Google Drive", "Usenet" - or even "FedEx" and "Telephone".

Any of those things are used for much worse than pirating content: *terrorists and rapists* use them for nefarious goals. So what?

I don't hear "Telephone" getting the blame. Nor I hear Gmail being asked to pay more attention to the content of those emails. You don't expect the provider of such services to police private communications.

What's the point of singling out Telegram, of all things?

(In case this is Ivan following on today's directive "Find something to attack Telegram", then it's a very lazy attempt. Can do better, Ivan.)