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Why I Lost Trust in Telegram Messaging App
Posted Jan 6, 2018

I have decided to stop endorsing Telegram as my preferred encrypted messaging app! I now recommend Signal. Two reasons for this change: 1) leaking metadata is too big a privacy/security design flaw and 2) controversy vs Iran has me no longer trusting Telegram founder Pavel Durov. Willing or not I fear he could become a tool of warmongering profiteers seeking yet more "regime change" resulting in the total unjust destruction of Iran just like Iraq, Lybia, etc.

Details:

1) It came to my attention that Telegram has a design flaw of leaking metadata:

https://oflisback.github.io/telegram-stalking/

https://medium.com/@thegrugq/operational-telegram-cbbaadb9013a

"This metadata would expose who talked with who, at what time, where they were located (via IP address), how much was said, etc. There is a huge amount of information in those flows that would more than compensate for lacking access to the content (even if, big assumption, the crypto is solid)."

2) Telegram's founder Pavel Durov is now in the midst of controversy vs the Iranian gov't which he *claims* has shut down Telegram in Iran (this claim has been disputed see below). He says this is a freedom of speech issue, but he's being inconsistent in which groups are censored by Telegram due to promoting violence. Telegram shut down the @amadnews channel for this reason, but it appears that group simply rebranded themselves as @sedaiemardom. There are dozens of replies from Iranian citizens to Pavel's tweet about this and so far I haven't seen any acknowledgement from Pavel. So, unfortunately I have lost a great deal of trust in Pavel and therefore Telegram. While I believe the protests in Iran are legit (other than the potential for influence from foreign agents provocateur transforming peaceful into deadly), I fear that Pavel will become a tool of my own warmongering U.S. gov't which doesn't care about these *economic* protests, the exact same kind which happen right here in the USA e.g. Occupy. What they really want is yet another excuse for "regime change" which will result in the unjust total destruction of Iran exactly like Lybia. I'm so disappointed that Pavel isn't addressing this hugely important issue.

Here are his tweets and a selection of replies:

@durov
Iranian authorities are blocking access to Telegram for the majority of Iranians after our public refusal to shut down https://t.me/sedaiemardom and other peacefully protesting channels.
https://twitter.com/durov/status/947441456238735360

@h_meysami
You're promoting a channel that promoting violence?!

@sintux
He's promoting freedom of speech piece of c...

@kenricashe
Was he promoting freedom of speech when he banned the reportedly-related amadnews channel? "Be careful - there are lines one shouldn't cross."

@durov
A Telegram channel (amadnews) started to instruct their subscribers to use Molotov cocktails against police and got suspended due to our "no calls for violence" rule. Be careful – there are lines one shouldn't cross. Similar case from October –
https://twitter.com/durov/status/947179988213624832

@IRI_SEAMAN
We still access to telegram
https://twitter.com/IRI_SEAMAN/status/947443223122862081

@theosint
Thanks Pavel for the update. Are you sure it’s blocked or are you just extrapolating this from usage data? It’s relevant to notice that the Internet is down in a lot of places.
https://twitter.com/theosint/status/947442704086130690

@svershin
I heard that one of the international links to Egypt may be down. Lots of my friends from Cairo are reporting issues with accessing all sorts of services, with broadband stuff being the worst affected.
https://twitter.com/svershin/status/947444404234670080

@ZandSaman
Everyone in Iran knows that SedaieMardom Channel is the reseved channel for Amadnews that @telegram shut it dawn last night. Both have the same admins and same strategy!
https://twitter.com/ZandSaman/status/947442249213906945

@hr_salehi
Because the same person and group started that new channel with the same approach. Everyone knows “sedaiemardom” is the new “amadnews”
https://twitter.com/hr_salehi/status/947449862911680513

@arvinhashempur
Peacefully?? You must be kidding. They killed three people yestarday including one 12 y.o kid. This channels are telling them where to go. And when they go the place the channel said they kill people and attack different governmental places and stores. Be careful. We love telgram
https://twitter.com/arvinhashempur/status/947739475089780736

@tohidian
peaceful?!?
how do u define peace Pavel? so disappointed in u.... so disappointed
https://twitter.com/tohidian/status/947744242650243072

@FardadArmin
You've blocked the "آمدنیوز", but alternative channels, such as the voice of the people, still invite people to chaos.
https://twitter.com/FardadArmin/status/948465958607294464

@mohammadHos6
https://t.me/sedaiemardom  ;;;;; = ISIS
https://twitter.com/mohammadHos6/status/948492253172912129

@genghis498
online campaign is being done to turn iran into syria..we have seen it on the onset of syrian war.
https://twitter.com/genghis498/status/947446707607937025

Ditch All Those Other Messaging Apps: Here's Why You Should Use Signal Wired.com/story/ditch-all-those-other-messaging-apps-heres-why-you-should-use-signal

Signal Desktop App With End-to-End Encryption Now Available to All Gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/signal-desktop-app-with-end-to-end-encryption-now-available-to-all-823468

It's also worth mentioning that I heard through the grapevine how the Cannabis industry is mostly using Signal, which sounds like a trustworthy endorsement to me!




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