Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests • Hacker News Board

Re: Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

#91

Post by jgilias » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 4:59 PM UTC

ddorian43 wrote: post #65

jgilias wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was reported that Telegram was the only thing that somewhat kept working when the internet was down country wide. Also, I installed Telegram for the explicit purpose of following the events in Belarus directly from sources. By doing that I noticed that apparently the local press in my country have done the same, as it seemed that most of the updates in online media have come from the same Telegram channels. So, it…

Uhhh how did it work when the internet went down ?

Yeah, no idea really. It'd be nice to find out from someone more in the know. Was the internet merely heavily deteriorated instead of shut down completely?

I also read that most of the VPNs wouldn't work, with the exception of psiphon.

Re: Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

#92

Post by ConsiderCrying » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 5:00 PM UTC

input_sh wrote: post #73

mbowcutt wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know too much about Telegram but isn't it encrypted?

By default it's no more encrypted than HN (as in, traffic to their servers uses TLS, messages on the server are not encrypted at all). There's Secret Chats feature which they claim to be end-to-end encrypted, meaning that it's no more secure than Facebook's Messenger (also end-to-end encrypted in Secret Conversations). Even less so considering that they roll their own encryption (MTProto), while Facebook's Messenger…

Can we stop using 6-year-old info for apps that get updated monthly? The problems they have with MTProto have been patched literally 5 years ago, the only other criticism comes from a direct competitor, and they recommend WhatsApp despite the fact that it's closed-source and nobody can verify if its encryption truly works.

Facebook is planning to merge Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, which makes it even more awful of a choice.

Re: Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

#93

Post by shawnz » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 5:00 PM UTC

charia wrote: post #85

soufron wrote: post #10

It's never "the work of a long-preparing revolutionnary crowd" revolution, but always a "latest fashionable technology" revolution. Tech propaganda at its best.

It's literally what one of the protestors called it. > “Telegram channels and websites that don’t belong to our government are the main source of information today as we cannot at all rely on state media,” said Roman Semenov, who follows the NEXTA channels and joined a rally in central Minsk on Wednesday evening. “It’s a Telegram revolution.” On top of that this is article detailing how this particular technology, ha…

And the journalist who gets paid to write a nice article about Signal will surely get a quote from the protestor who happened to use Signal and not Telegram.

Re: Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

#94

Post by DavideNL » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 5:01 PM UTC

input_sh wrote: post #73

mbowcutt wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know too much about Telegram but isn't it encrypted?

By default it's no more encrypted than HN (as in, traffic to their servers uses TLS, messages on the server are not encrypted at all). There's Secret Chats feature which they claim to be end-to-end encrypted, meaning that it's no more secure than Facebook's Messenger (also end-to-end encrypted in Secret Conversations). Even less so considering that they roll their own encryption (MTProto), while Facebook's Messenger…

> There's Secret Chats feature

But secret chats are only for 1-to-1 chats, not for groups as far as I know (or has that changed?)

Re: Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

#95

Post by znpy » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 5:02 PM UTC

echelon wrote: post #35

ip26 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you similarly critical of discussions about how ubiquitous camera phones have changed the civil rights movement? Technology is only a tool, and is only as good as what people actually do with it. But it can be a crucial tool that changes everything.

I don't think so. Calling it "{arbitrary brand} revolution", when pretty much every messaging platform is indistinguishable feels crass and tacky. The brand isn't the one in the trenches making the sacrifices. It could be called a smart phone revolution instead. A revolution of the people.

Except that isn't the case.

Reportedly, Telegram has kept working when other apps did not.

That makes it a "telegram revolution".

Re: Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

#96

Post by lordnacho » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 5:02 PM UTC

ROARosen wrote: post #81

dgellow wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telegram has some distinct features that makes it quite good during protests: - location based chats, you see people around and can start a local group. So you can easily get in contact with other protestors around you. - Broadcasting channels - Not by default, but you can creat encrypted chats, with auto destruction - Since a few days, encrypted video calls - Not owned by Facebook

>- Not owned by Facebook "nine out of ten Egyptians and Tunisians responded to a poll that they used Facebook to organise protests and spread awareness" [1] "During the Arab Spring the number of users of social networks, especially Facebook, rose dramatically in most Arab countries, particularly in those where political uprising took place, with the exception of Libya, which at the time had low Internet access preven…

Facebook 2020 isn't the same as Facebook 2010. Their public image has changed a lot in between.

Re: Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

#97

Post by zzz61831 » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 5:03 PM UTC

ourcat wrote: post #23

aborsy wrote: post #14

Why not Signal? It’s the way to go as far as messaging apps are concerned.

Don't they both require handing over a mobile phone number to use them? This is what has always confused me (and turned me off) about these privacy-focussed messaging apps.

Sort of, there is pseudoanonimity layer in Telegram that doesn't show your phone number to others, so if you can be reasonably sure that Telegram isn't going to give you up to the police of your country - your privacy can be preserved. While Signal literally identifies contacts via phone numbers and there is no mass communication features anyway, so it's both less private and less useful for such purposes.

Re: Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

#98

Post by diimdeep » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 5:03 PM UTC

input_sh wrote: post #73

mbowcutt wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know too much about Telegram but isn't it encrypted?

By default it's no more encrypted than HN (as in, traffic to their servers uses TLS, messages on the server are not encrypted at all). There's Secret Chats feature which they claim to be end-to-end encrypted, meaning that it's no more secure than Facebook's Messenger (also end-to-end encrypted in Secret Conversations). Even less so considering that they roll their own encryption (MTProto), while Facebook's Messenger…

And how is Signal's protocol is not "roll their own" ? Sorry I don't know.

Re: Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

#99

Post by chromedev » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 5:03 PM UTC

adityasaky wrote: post #51

chromedev wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forget to mention the desktop and mobile apps both are open source, so anyone can build their own network.

Unfortunately (this may have changed in recent times), they often don't update the public repos in line with their releases. They put them out all at once later. Also, last I checked only the clients are open source? Has that changed?

You can find the releases here, and if there is a delay it is only a few days at most:

https://github.com/Telegram-FOSS-Team/Telegram-FOSS/releases

Only the clients are open source, but anyone could use the source code to create their own network.

Re: Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

#100

Post by dgellow » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 5:03 PM UTC

ROARosen wrote: post #81

dgellow wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telegram has some distinct features that makes it quite good during protests: - location based chats, you see people around and can start a local group. So you can easily get in contact with other protestors around you. - Broadcasting channels - Not by default, but you can creat encrypted chats, with auto destruction - Since a few days, encrypted video calls - Not owned by Facebook

>- Not owned by Facebook "nine out of ten Egyptians and Tunisians responded to a poll that they used Facebook to organise protests and spread awareness" [1] "During the Arab Spring the number of users of social networks, especially Facebook, rose dramatically in most Arab countries, particularly in those where political uprising took place, with the exception of Libya, which at the time had low Internet access preven…

I don’t get your point. Telegram is not owned by Facebook. A potential alternative, WhatsApp, is owned by Facebook. That’s the point I was going for.

And you have a huge difference between Facebook 2010 and 2020.