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You may have skipped the link in the first footnote in my top-level comment. In short: Russia has been blocking Telegram for over a year, demanding developers

You may have skipped the link in the first footnote in my top-level comment. In short: Russia has been blocking Telegram for over a year, demanding developers to compromise E2E encryption of chats. Last month Russia unblocked Telegram, and a quote attributed to its developer indicates they have developed ways to censor chats. The circumstances are hazy and there had been no clear communication from the developer. This and other issues with Telegram (some of which are mentioned elsewhere in the thread) make it, to me, not trustworthy enough for sensitive uses, Hong Kong situation included.

dgellow 6y ago
> Last month Russia unblocked Telegram, and a quote attributed to its developer indicates they have developed ways to censor chats. That’s a stretch. We don’t know why the ban has been removed, and it’s definitely suspicious but other reasons are possible. We are missing information to jump to “telegram compromised their end to end encryption”. Another possible explanation: Russia government doesn’t have infinite resources, spent years trying to block telegram to push them to accept their demand, that didn’t work so they stopped and are investing in other solutions.
- goblin89 6y ago
  > We don’t know why the ban has been removed, and it’s definitely suspicious but other reasons are possible. Exactly that: we don’t. “Suspicious but possibly OK” is not good enough under sensitive circumstances, especially in addition to the host of other issues with Telegram’s reputation. The comment upthread suggesting Telegram’s popularity in HK worries me, I should be more active at educating friends.
  - dgellow 6y ago
    In the context of Hong Kong, that's fair, I think that we would agree.
  - zelphirkalt 6y ago
    You are right about wanting to know exactly of course. I have a question though: What could Telegram have done, once unblocked by Russian government, to make sure we know exactly and don't need to be suspicous?
    - goblin89 6y ago
      Acknowledge this happened, clarify what changed, be honest if and how the new state of affairs compromises privacy and under which circumstances (if any) it affects E2E chats. Otherwise they’ll get rumours about “striking a deal” with the government, developer going bankrupt and caving in to the influence of rich Russian investors, and so on.

dgellow 6y ago

> Last month Russia unblocked Telegram, and a quote attributed to its developer indicates they have developed ways to censor chats. That’s a stretch. We don’t know why the ban has been removed, and it’s definitely suspicious but other reasons are possible. We are missing information to jump to “telegram compromised their end to end encryption”. Another possible explanation: Russia government doesn’t have infinite resources, spent years trying to block telegram to push them to accept their demand, that didn’t work so they stopped and are investing in other solutions.

goblin89 6y ago
> We don’t know why the ban has been removed, and it’s definitely suspicious but other reasons are possible. Exactly that: we don’t. “Suspicious but possibly OK” is not good enough under sensitive circumstances, especially in addition to the host of other issues with Telegram’s reputation. The comment upthread suggesting Telegram’s popularity in HK worries me, I should be more active at educating friends.
- dgellow 6y ago
  In the context of Hong Kong, that's fair, I think that we would agree.
- zelphirkalt 6y ago
  You are right about wanting to know exactly of course. I have a question though: What could Telegram have done, once unblocked by Russian government, to make sure we know exactly and don't need to be suspicous?
  - goblin89 6y ago
    Acknowledge this happened, clarify what changed, be honest if and how the new state of affairs compromises privacy and under which circumstances (if any) it affects E2E chats. Otherwise they’ll get rumours about “striking a deal” with the government, developer going bankrupt and caving in to the influence of rich Russian investors, and so on.