Telegram messaging app proves crucial to Belarus protests

Post by Krasnol » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 12:04 AM UTC

zzz61831 wrote: post #97

ourcat wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Post by tomp » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 12:26 AM UTC

contravariant wrote: post #321

diimdeep wrote: post #118

Telegram created Belarus language public channel. And posted poll to vote for new president with some clever restrictions. Anyone can vote, but you can't choose options with candidates if your phone number is not Balarusian. "I am not from Belarus" is only available poll option to make your vote if your phone number is not Balarusian. There is currently 736'000 votes with that option. Telegram poll https://t.me/s/tel…

Just in case anyone is wondering. The 'official' vote count for Thikhanovskaya is 588,622. So regardless of how unbiased a sample it may be the Telegram poll shows over 2x as many people (or phone numbers to be exact), willing to vote for Thikhanovskaya (at the time of writing). Use this information as you wish.

Post by newen » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 12:39 AM UTC

maccam912 wrote: post #167

throwaway4747l wrote: post #89

Ctrl-F "Signаl": 10 instances Seriously, it'd be nice if we could have one thread about Telegram without S-advocates showing up and complaining about "security". Yes, we know Telegram isn't as secure, yadda yadda yadda. Now if only Signal provided half the features Telegram does, maybe non-cryptonerds would have heard of it.

Yeah honestly I just scroll right past them. I use telegram for my "Can you pick up some bananas on the way home?" messages. If I ever had a confidential tip for some investigative journalist I'd use signal. But it gets annoying if every post with the word "telegram" in the title gets the same "But signal is more secure!" response unrelated to the content of the article.

Post by godelski » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 12:57 AM UTC

jhasse wrote: post #350

godelski wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also an important aspect is that it is open sourced, meaning others can audit it. I'm a little untrusting of people that say "trust me" but also "no, you can't look at it." (unless there is a good reason to hide it, which in this case I do not believe there is)

MTproto is also open source.

Post by _jahh » Sat, Aug 22, 2020, 1:19 AM UTC

eitland wrote: post #273

prajjwal wrote: post #218

It's amazing that technology is empowering these protestors, but I'm not sure a vulnerable group of people such as this should be leaving identifying information on these servers. - You cannot sign up for Telegram without your phone number (even if it isn't public). - End to End encryption exists but is limited to 1-1 chats. - Telegram cooperates with data requests from law enforcements. The kind of risk this puts th…

> Telegram cooperates with data requests from law enforcements. It is not that black and white: AFAIK and IIRC it is more like this: - yes: Telegram gives data about members of public groups/channels - no: Telegram does not give out information from closed groups / personal chats, and they go to great lengths to prevent that information from becoming available. We might be sceptical all we want about the custom crypt…