Russia moves to block messaging app Telegram

[StLuis DF Member Posts:70 Threads:55 Reputation 0]

Russia’s communications regulator said on Tuesday it would move to block popular messaging app Telegram next month if it did not hand over its encryption keys to security services.

The decree from Roskomnadzor came shortly after Russia’s supreme court also ruled against Telegram. It raises the stakes in Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s long-running battle with the FSB, the successor to the KGB, and casts a shadow over Telegram’s $850m initial coin offering, by far the largest ever cryptocurrency listing.

The FSB sued Telegram last year to demand code to decrypt messaging traffic on the app, which has about 10m users in Russia. A Moscow court fined Telegram Rbs800,000 ($14,000) last October for refusing to comply.

Full reading:  https://www.ft.com/content/62ecbe7e-2c3f-11e8-9b4b-bc4b9f08f381

[tatsuyaho_ji_ma DF Member Posts:35 Threads:1 Reputation 0]

Thanks you, this is interesting read. I dont think telegram will help decrypt tho, very bad for reputation!!

[martin DF Member Posts:3 Threads:1 Reputation 0]

Hard decision for Telegram, if they hand over the keys they will loose users if not it will be banned in Russia. At least Durov and the development team left it some years ago.