The authorities believe that Ukraine has quick access to Russian servicemen’s messages and exploits this for military purposes, which wouldn’t be possible without some degree of complicity on Telegram’s part, thus impugning its founder’s character after he denied working with foreign spooks.
It will be a great pity if Telegram is lost to Russians as a means of organising their social lives including innocent activities such as music rehearsals and language lessons (that’s indeed what I and my Russian friends currently use it for). Of course, one could switch to Max for the same purpose, or for that matter, VK. But Telegram is indubitably a superior platform at present, plus “everyone uses it”. I can’t help but feel the best solution would be for Durov to give Russian authorities the same oversight he is alleged to have given other authorities and then for it to be considered an “open” platform — i.e. only to be used for innocent activities one wouldn’t mind the authorities having oversight into. Of course, that changes it a bit, but the alternative would be for the network to lose a hundred million or so users, which would be very bad news for it.
I also agree that it would be a major inconvenience for everyone since so many people here nowadays use Telegram in their everyday life, even beyond receiving news updates and the like, and it's definitely superior to Max at present.
Telegram doesn’t have end-to-end encryption by default (unlike WhatsApp), so I think that probably explains Russian concerns about its informal use for military communications.
End-to-end encryption can easily be bypassed by exfiltrating the key from the device. Android and iOs are US Silicon Valley OS's so we can assume it's swiss cheese for NSA and other US 3 letter agencies.
Telegram being compromised sounds highly plausible given Telegram remains quite unscathed in the West's witch hunt to assume full control over the narrative and relying on censorship it accuses "dictatorial regimes" of. The only logical explanation to this is that the benefits (intel) Telegram provide surpass the costs (of not controlling the narrative).
What's also possible is that Pavel Durov got his electronic assets compromised during his detention without him knowing it. So it doesn't necessarily need to be a theatrical act on his part.
Counterargument 1: Many Russians don't like Max precisely because it's (allegedly) less secure than Telegram.
Counterargument 2: As far as I know both Russia *and* Ukraine want to ban Telegram. If Putin sells out to Trump in the spirit of Anchorage, dissenters (lots of Russians, including those who sacrificed something in this war) will ask themselves: What did we actually fight for for the last four years? So that Dmitriev can make business with Western pedophiles? Are those the multipolar traditional values we lost millions of (on both sides) for? Has Putin again put the needs of Westernerners before those of Russians and Ukrainians (like in 2015)?
(Ukrainians may have similar sentiments towards their elites.)
In order for such dissent to have any impact, people need to organize. There are channels on Telegram with tens of thousands of members. Owners of those channels could tell people to not vote for Putin next time, or ask unpleasant questions to the members of parliament they voted for, or take it to the streets.
Davosian Kremlinoids and their colleagues in Kiev can't handle this and try to destroy one of the last kinda-sorta free speech platforms.
I hope this is true. Another nail in Putin/Russia's coffin. Perhaps the US will deploy its forces to Ukraine after we finish with Iran. Trump lost patience with the Ayatollah, which precipitated the Iran attack. He has certainly lost patience with Putin!
It will be a great pity if Telegram is lost to Russians as a means of organising their social lives including innocent activities such as music rehearsals and language lessons (that’s indeed what I and my Russian friends currently use it for). Of course, one could switch to Max for the same purpose, or for that matter, VK. But Telegram is indubitably a superior platform at present, plus “everyone uses it”. I can’t help but feel the best solution would be for Durov to give Russian authorities the same oversight he is alleged to have given other authorities and then for it to be considered an “open” platform — i.e. only to be used for innocent activities one wouldn’t mind the authorities having oversight into. Of course, that changes it a bit, but the alternative would be for the network to lose a hundred million or so users, which would be very bad news for it.
I also agree that it would be a major inconvenience for everyone since so many people here nowadays use Telegram in their everyday life, even beyond receiving news updates and the like, and it's definitely superior to Max at present.
Telegram doesn’t have end-to-end encryption by default (unlike WhatsApp), so I think that probably explains Russian concerns about its informal use for military communications.
End-to-end encryption can easily be bypassed by exfiltrating the key from the device. Android and iOs are US Silicon Valley OS's so we can assume it's swiss cheese for NSA and other US 3 letter agencies.
Indeed.
Telegram being compromised sounds highly plausible given Telegram remains quite unscathed in the West's witch hunt to assume full control over the narrative and relying on censorship it accuses "dictatorial regimes" of. The only logical explanation to this is that the benefits (intel) Telegram provide surpass the costs (of not controlling the narrative).
What's also possible is that Pavel Durov got his electronic assets compromised during his detention without him knowing it. So it doesn't necessarily need to be a theatrical act on his part.
What's astonishing me is that Russian army used a public network to confidential talks...
Uh-oh I use it n I ain't even Russian!
Counterargument 1: Many Russians don't like Max precisely because it's (allegedly) less secure than Telegram.
Counterargument 2: As far as I know both Russia *and* Ukraine want to ban Telegram. If Putin sells out to Trump in the spirit of Anchorage, dissenters (lots of Russians, including those who sacrificed something in this war) will ask themselves: What did we actually fight for for the last four years? So that Dmitriev can make business with Western pedophiles? Are those the multipolar traditional values we lost millions of (on both sides) for? Has Putin again put the needs of Westernerners before those of Russians and Ukrainians (like in 2015)?
(Ukrainians may have similar sentiments towards their elites.)
In order for such dissent to have any impact, people need to organize. There are channels on Telegram with tens of thousands of members. Owners of those channels could tell people to not vote for Putin next time, or ask unpleasant questions to the members of parliament they voted for, or take it to the streets.
Davosian Kremlinoids and their colleagues in Kiev can't handle this and try to destroy one of the last kinda-sorta free speech platforms.
I hope this is true. Another nail in Putin/Russia's coffin. Perhaps the US will deploy its forces to Ukraine after we finish with Iran. Trump lost patience with the Ayatollah, which precipitated the Iran attack. He has certainly lost patience with Putin!