4 ms·

Telegram is down

21 points by Pirolita 8y ago

dingo_bat 8y ago
Quite concerning. IIRC Telegram is based in Russia. And Russia has been trying to ban the app. Maybe they just decided to shut down the company itself. It's within the state's power anyway.
- throwaway84742 8y ago
  You IIRC incorrectly. It is not based in Russia. Moreover, its founder got relieved of his business (VKontakte), by a state affiliated oligarch, whereupon he bought a passport from St Kitts and left Russia to never return. So he’s pretty pissed at the regime.
- moeadham 8y ago
  Sadly you are 100% wrong on this one. The founder of Telegram is vehemently anti-russia (government), although him and his brother are Russian.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
elitistphoenix 8y ago
Let the speculation about Russian involvement begin!
- craftyguy 8y ago
  If it is, it's a weird time for them to disrupt service since most folks in Russia are probably still sleeping.
- candiodari 8y ago
  Well ... * the author is Russian * the operators are Russian * the latest state to want to shut it down is Russian * the telecom operator that was working hard to block it was Russian So I think we can conclusively say that whatever is going on, it was "the" Russians !
- haZard_OS 8y ago
  Let the denial about Russian involvement begin !
sterlind 8y ago
EDIT: I am still able to send and receive messages through the app. Looks like a partial outage only. Seems like this could be related to Russia's attempt to block the service [1]. Since the 500 message is served under a valid TLS certificate, it seems likely that Russia managed to down their backend, leaving nginx with nothing to proxy to. Since Russia has attempted to force Google and Amazon's hands by blocking wide swaths of cloud subnets in the country, they might have caved under the pressure and suspended Telegram's VMs. Alternatively, perhaps the FSB pulled off a successful hack. 1. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/04/in-effort-to-shut-down-telegram-russia-blocks-amazon-google-network-addresses/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/04/in-ef...
on_and_off 8y ago
Damn :/ I have come to love Telegram. Its mobile client is impeccable, which is all the more impressive after you look at its open source code.. Web and native osX clients are just as great (the OsX client is even a great example of a native app done well). And sadly, not being owned by FAAMG is a big plus nowadays. If the worst happens and Telegram is definitively down, what do you suggest I use to replace it ?
- roryisok 8y ago
  Same here, the app has way better features than WhatsApp, which of course is the obvious alternative. Signal is supposedly very good and has a desktop app to match, but no Windows Phone client makes it a deal breaker for me
  - on_and_off 8y ago
    I purposefully did not name WhatsApp. I use it of course and as far as the clients go, they are ok. I trust its owners less and less with each passing day though.
    - roryisok 8y ago
      Likewise. I detest the organisation and everything they stand for. And yet, i have to use it, because lots of my didn't family are on WhatsApp and not on telegram
      - reitanqild 8y ago
        Took a few months but my family is now on Telegrams. They were the last of my groups to migrate.
- iliaznk 8y ago
  The macos native app is nice, but I personally still have to use the universal (Electron-based, I guess) version, because I couldn't find a way to make the native app display unread count on the system tray icon. Is it just me or it really doesn't do that?
Hydraulix989 8y ago
Time for a Blockchain version.
- majewsky 8y ago
  Is that like some new sort of Godwin's Law? "As an HN discussion grows longer, the probability of a blockchain implementation approaches 1."
  - Hydraulix989 8y ago
    Are you kidding me? A decentralized encrypted chat is completely resistant to such government censorship. Meanwhile, all Putin has to do is yank the plug on Telegram's servers. And of course, no amount of coercion could force anyone to give up the keys. This is one of the killer apps for blockchain.
bigiain 8y ago
The Verge is reporting Russia has blocked all their hosting IP addresses. Where by "their" I mean AWS IP addresses they might use. only 15 mullion of them. No biggie, right? https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/17/17246150/telegram-russia-ban https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/17/17246150/telegram-russia-... I wonder if there's some low level network tech who knew _exactly_ what he was doing when his bosses bosses boss _demanded_ to know every IP address Telegram's hosting company used, and just happily handed over a bunch of /15s and went to buy popcorn? (That's what _I_ would have done...)
xvilka 8y ago
Wonder why is flagged now.

21 points by Pirolita 8y ago

Quite concerning. IIRC Telegram is based in Russia. And Russia has been trying to ban the app. Maybe they just decided to shut down the company itself. It's within the state's power anyway.

throwaway84742 8y ago
You IIRC incorrectly. It is not based in Russia. Moreover, its founder got relieved of his business (VKontakte), by a state affiliated oligarch, whereupon he bought a passport from St Kitts and left Russia to never return. So he’s pretty pissed at the regime.
moeadham 8y ago
Sadly you are 100% wrong on this one. The founder of Telegram is vehemently anti-russia (government), although him and his brother are Russian.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

elitistphoenix 8y ago

Let the speculation about Russian involvement begin!

craftyguy 8y ago
If it is, it's a weird time for them to disrupt service since most folks in Russia are probably still sleeping.
candiodari 8y ago
Well ... * the author is Russian * the operators are Russian * the latest state to want to shut it down is Russian * the telecom operator that was working hard to block it was Russian So I think we can conclusively say that whatever is going on, it was "the" Russians !
haZard_OS 8y ago
Let the denial about Russian involvement begin !

sterlind 8y ago

EDIT: I am still able to send and receive messages through the app. Looks like a partial outage only. Seems like this could be related to Russia's attempt to block the service [1]. Since the 500 message is served under a valid TLS certificate, it seems likely that Russia managed to down their backend, leaving nginx with nothing to proxy to. Since Russia has attempted to force Google and Amazon's hands by blocking wide swaths of cloud subnets in the country, they might have caved under the pressure and suspended Telegram's VMs. Alternatively, perhaps the FSB pulled off a successful hack. 1. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/04/in-effort-to-shut-down-telegram-russia-blocks-amazon-google-network-addresses/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/04/in-ef...

on_and_off 8y ago

Damn :/ I have come to love Telegram. Its mobile client is impeccable, which is all the more impressive after you look at its open source code.. Web and native osX clients are just as great (the OsX client is even a great example of a native app done well). And sadly, not being owned by FAAMG is a big plus nowadays. If the worst happens and Telegram is definitively down, what do you suggest I use to replace it ?

roryisok 8y ago
Same here, the app has way better features than WhatsApp, which of course is the obvious alternative. Signal is supposedly very good and has a desktop app to match, but no Windows Phone client makes it a deal breaker for me
- on_and_off 8y ago
  I purposefully did not name WhatsApp. I use it of course and as far as the clients go, they are ok. I trust its owners less and less with each passing day though.
  - roryisok 8y ago
    Likewise. I detest the organisation and everything they stand for. And yet, i have to use it, because lots of my didn't family are on WhatsApp and not on telegram
    - reitanqild 8y ago
      Took a few months but my family is now on Telegrams. They were the last of my groups to migrate.
iliaznk 8y ago
The macos native app is nice, but I personally still have to use the universal (Electron-based, I guess) version, because I couldn't find a way to make the native app display unread count on the system tray icon. Is it just me or it really doesn't do that?

Hydraulix989 8y ago

Time for a Blockchain version.

majewsky 8y ago
Is that like some new sort of Godwin's Law? "As an HN discussion grows longer, the probability of a blockchain implementation approaches 1."
- Hydraulix989 8y ago
  Are you kidding me? A decentralized encrypted chat is completely resistant to such government censorship. Meanwhile, all Putin has to do is yank the plug on Telegram's servers. And of course, no amount of coercion could force anyone to give up the keys. This is one of the killer apps for blockchain.

bigiain 8y ago

The Verge is reporting Russia has blocked all their hosting IP addresses. Where by "their" I mean AWS IP addresses they might use. only 15 mullion of them. No biggie, right? https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/17/17246150/telegram-russia-ban https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/17/17246150/telegram-russia-... I wonder if there's some low level network tech who knew _exactly_ what he was doing when his bosses bosses boss _demanded_ to know every IP address Telegram's hosting company used, and just happily handed over a bunch of /15s and went to buy popcorn? (That's what _I_ would have done...)

xvilka 8y ago

Wonder why is flagged now.