Why did Roskomnadzor unlock Telegram?

Threats by blocking Telegram began to sound three years ago. Then the FSB demanded from the creator of the messenger Pavel Durov to give the encryption keys to access users. Special services were supposedly required to counteract terrorism and extremism. Durov in response explained that these requirements are technically impossible. In April 2018, the court decided to block the messenger in the Russian Federation. After that, a multi -thousandth rally for Internet freedom took place in Moscow. Users began to use VPN, proxy servers and continued to use the application. Telegram was continued by civil servants. Meanwhile, Roskomnadzor did not leave attempts to block the application. A week before the start of early voting on amendments to the Constitution, the department said: it refuses its requirements, Telegram is unlocked in Russia. And all this bypassing the court decision. The correspondent talked with experts that this could mean.

Life without keys

From the statement of Roskomnadzor of June 18: “We positively evaluate the readiness to counteract terrorism and extremism expressed by the founder of Telegram. In agreement with the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Roskomnadzor removes the requirements to restrict access to the Telegram messenger. ”

On social networks, the assumptions began to appear regarding the first part of the department: they say, Pavel Durov, in exchange for unlocking the messenger, handed over the encryption keys to the special services and now Telegram will not be as safe in terms of confidentiality as before. In confirmation of this position, Durov’s statement of June 4 was given, where he said: “[...] Methods of detecting and removing extremist propaganda were improved, and now tens of thousands of attempts to extend public calls for violence and terror monthly are suppressed by the Telegram team.”

According to the director of the non -profit organization "Internet Protection Society" Mikhail Klimarev, the versions of "conspiracyrs" that Durov passed the encryption keys are insolvent, because this is technically impossible:

-Telegram channels are public-there is nothing special to hide there, and anyone can find a message in this channel. The fact that Durov wrote about the blocking of some things, he said this about open information.

And if we are conducting personal correspondence, and even if protected ( the option in Telegram “Secret Chat”, when messages are removed from users after a given time . - Ed. ), This correspondence is encrypted, the keys are formed on the device itself, and the key to decoding is transmitted to the other side. Only two sides can participate in this exchange. Accordingly, these messages are definitely not stored on the server.

And if they were stored somewhere, nothing can be said on them anyway, because they are encrypted.

Klimarev notes that anyone can file complaints about illegitimate content in open telegram channels: “The mechanism is as follows: if we find some kind of illegitimate content that is registered in the user agreement, you can complain about spam, violence, pornography and“ other ”. If in "another" to enter the word "terrorism" (in English) - this passes through the international group of moderators. "

According to Klimarev, the second reason why Durov would not go to an “agreement” with special services and Roskomnadzor is a probable loss of reputation that would inevitably occur in this case:

- In Russia, in fact, a small share of all Telegram users. They do not disclose statistics, but, according to some reports, in Russia there are about 15-18 million of them, and in total - about 400 million. Of course, Russia is a large and important market, but not the main one.

The Interfax source confirmed that Telegram administrators did not give the authorities of encryption to the authorities, since “this became irrelevant due to technical reasons”, but the messenger interacts with the authorities “according to specific cases in the fight against terrorism”.

"Liberals" in Roskomnadzor

In March of this year, the leadership was replaced in Roskomnadzor: Andrei Lipov, who previously oversaw the preparation of the Law on Sovereign Runet, came to replace Alexander Zharov, who, first of all, was remembered by numerous blocks of sites.

Experts note that unexpectedly almost immediately the efforts in the lock of Telegram came to naught.

“If, under Zharov, back in January-February, the number of IP addresses of servers entered into the register reached several thousand daily-then [under the current guide], from the second of June, only one IP address was included in the register,” says Mikhail Klimarev.

Another approach to the issue of blocking on the part of the team Andrei Lipov also notes the lawyer of Roskomsvoboda Sarkis Darbinyan: “I must admit that under the leadership of Zharov the department has lost any respect among users. I think they probably now want to show that Roskomnadzor has become more effective, that the policy of the body that monitors the rune has changed. ”

However, Roskomnadzor was now in a several absurd situation: in April 2018, Telegram was officially blocked by the decision of the Tagan court of Moscow. But bypassing the court decision, in agreement with the Prosecutor General, the department decides now to cancel the lock.

“In a good way, Roskomnadzor as the initiator should apply for a revision of the case due to newly discovered circumstances,” said Sarkis Darbinyan.

- The court decision must be canceled. Otherwise, in this case, it turns out that Roskomnadzor simply does not fulfill the decision that has entered into force.

The chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin spoke about how to be with a court decision. In a large interview with Gazeta.ru [which was published only 20 minutes after the official press release of Roskomnadzor] Volodin discusses the possible abolition of the messenger blocking.

The question was asked, in the context of the bill introduced to the State Duma by representatives of “Fair Russia” who proposed to unlock Telegram, since it is the “official service” of state bodies to inform the population about the situation with coronavirus.

For example, the messenger has an official channel of the Moscow Operational Headquarters on the situation with coronavirus.

“If the court makes a decision, it must be executed. And if this decision is impossible to execute, then it should be adjusted, ”Volodin said as if foreshadowing today's news. The State Duma chairman also mentioned that the deputies, of course, use popular applications, "which includes Telegram."

“This is an absolutely absurd situation when the service is blocked, and it is used, including state bodies, ministries,” says Darbinyan. - Of course, there is no direct recognition [in the statement of Roskomnadzor], but everyone understands that this is a step back, the surrender of their position, which has been held for two years. They decided that it is impossible to disgrace further.

Gift before reversing?

But the decision was announced right now. After the State Duma deputies indicated the presence of official Telegram channels of power structures. Also, after Durov announced the termination of work on the development of the Telegram Open Network (Ton) blockchain platform, which also raised many questions among representatives of the authorities. And a week before voting on amendments to the Constitution.

“On the one hand, I don’t see a direct connection with popular voting, on the other, I understand that it is the latter that determines the entire domestic political agenda of the Kremlin now, all officials know this and take this into account in their work,” says Political Technologist Abbas Gallyamov, “RKN could not know this either. And in general, the theme of Telegram has always been under special control of the Kremlin, so it could not be here without it.

Perhaps he is simply trying to soften the confrontation with the liberal segment of society, to show that he is not an irreconcilable enemy for the latter. The goal is to reduce protest moods in anticipation of voting.