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Prokofy Neva's avatar

There's everything you've said -- but it's not only about cloud architecture or encryption, the problem starts with corporate structure. It has always been tied to the Kremlin and likely still is, for complicated reasons:

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/09/22/the-telegram-lawsuits-explained-pavel-durov-a58989

There is a sea of obfuscation and disinformation and confusion around this topic, but the fact that Telegram isn't banned like every other independent media, enterprise, or person in Russia, and not jailed or declared a "foreign agent" or killed lets you know that the Kremlin and Russian intelligence find it useful. They find it handy not just to spy on everyone, but even to talk to themselves, as their own communications and feedback systems are very shattered now and have always been riddled with compromise. Telegram serves the role of Blue TASS in the Soviet era, the channel where the real news is really posted, available only to elites, so they can know what's going on even in their own propagandized space. Tor, a US government created and sponsored and used system -- which is also why you shouldn't rely on it -- is no different, really; it just has the cool kids' gloss layered over it. An ap that demands you be a zebra to hide the stripes of government agents who need to hide isn't your forest, it's your zoo. Telegram is merely a bigger and uglier and more murderous form of the same problem. You can't stop using it if you are Russian, or following Russia and the war in Ukraine, because it's all there is -- just like you can't stop using the metro or going to the store. It's hard to stay safe in such settings but plan accordingly. To think this problem started only now, or is only about the Donbas or only a thing because you can now prove some wonky piece of it -- is naive to the extreme.

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reneviett's avatar

If Ihor deleted earlier messages in a nonsecret chat (for both him and Smoke) , would those messages still be available without getting the auth key from the phone?

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