The secret of correspondence

Another popular messenger among Russians may be under the threat of a ban, as has already happened with Telegram. We are talking about Viber. The company is ready to cooperate with the security authorities, including the Russian special services, but the service owners refuse to provide keys to decrypt messages to anyone - simply because the company has no technical opportunity to do this. This was announced by RBC by the operating director of the company Michael Schmilov.

“You cannot give something that is not. You can ask for the keys for decryption from the user, but we, as a company, do not see or store them. Even when special services come to us, the answer does not change, ”he explained to the publication.

RBC clarifies that in the Viber service all chats and calls are protected by through encryption, in which case the key is not owned by the key, but each specific user - the keys are stored with him.

“All that we can give is the log of conversation: when and with whom the user communicated. We must do this according to the laws that operate in many countries of the world. In addition, we cannot provide anything, ”Schmilov added.

In an interview with the publication, he also said that the special services of different countries periodically make requests to the company, while the Russian security authorities are much less likely to turn to Viber than their colleagues from Europe.

Experts note that Viber is really difficult to decrypt - at least from the police - therefore, drug dealers often use the messenger.

“The fact is that the technical possibility of viber control is available only to the FSB, which is extremely reluctant to share the data of correspondence. And an ordinary operative officer from the district OP or even FSKN will not contact the Office for this information. It can simply be ignored, ”writes RIA“ New Day ” with reference to sources in law enforcement agencies.

It should be noted that Viber has not registered in Russia as Ori (the organizer of the dissemination of information), which could be another signal to the fact that soon a popular messenger can leave the country. According to the Vedomosti newspaper, Viber is one of the most popular messengers in Russia - the daily audience exceeds 9 million people. As of May 2016, they used more than 60 million inhabitants of the country in the Russian Federation.

According to the current legislation, the service should be included in a special register, and also store information about incoming and outgoing calls, messages and so on on servers located in the Russian Federation. In addition, the messenger may have difficulties with the Yarovaya Law, according to which from July 1, 2018, service owners will have to store user correspondence within six months. However, the company says that this contradicts domestic policy.

According to experts, this can really lead to the fact that the service will stop working in the territory of the Russian Federation.

“As a rule, large companies value their reputation and will not discredit themselves to users. Whereas Russian services such as state mixtures may well submit to the requirements of special services, ”said Artem Kozlyuk, head of the Roskomsvoboda Non -Profit Organization.

Recall that this week the popular Telegram messenger was at risk of blocking in Russia. The brainchild of Pavel Durov received on March 20 the order from Roskomnadzor, according to which the company was obliged to provide keys to the FSB for decryption of user messages. In case of refusal, Roskomnadzor through the court may block Telegram.

“The threats of Telegram blocking will not bring a result, and the company will continue to protect the freedom and inviolability of private life,” Pavel Durov wrote in response to this on his Twitter .

By a court decision, the company was also fined 800 thousand rubles for refusing to provide data (under Part 2 of Article 13.31 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), but Durov representatives appealed this decision in the ECHR.