June 12, 2022 - Telegram has become quite popular over the past couple of year. It is a messaging application that offers end to end encryption, making it nearly impossible for anyone to intercept a message and read it if they aren’t the intended recipient. One of the companies biggest selling points has been that they don't share information with government authorities. And they have claimed that the way their security keys are stored would make it difficult for any government to force them to turn over user data. But that may no longer be the case. The company has now admitted to turning over user data to the German Federal Criminal Police Office, known as the BKA. The question is, why?
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According to a report in the German publication Der Spiegel, Telegram turned over some personal user data to the BKA that was being requested for investigations of terrorist activities and distribution of child abuse. The move is in direct contradiction to statements on Telegram's website that claim that, " To this day, we have disclosed 0 bytes of user data to third parties, including governments."
Telegram has been a thorn in the side of Germany. The German government has repeatedly threatened the company, including threats of shutting it down. One of their complaints has been that when the company has received orders to turn over data, they have not responded. It is unknown at this time if this latest turn over of information represents a change in the company's position on privacy or if Germany was able to coordinate with other governments to force the company into compliance.
The privacy offered by Telegram has been the major factor in its success. Telegram has been used to organize protests in places like Hong Kong and more recently the trucker protest in Canada. Many other platforms will censor user content and communications, and even text message are now being censored based on content by telecommunications companies. So the question becomes, if Telegram has changed its policies then what are its alternatives. We don't know the answer to that yet.
by Jim Malmberg
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