Telegram founder's arrest is radical — if it's a crime to build privacy tools, there will be no privacy
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Pavel Durov's arrest suggests that the law enforcement dragnet is being widened from private financial transactions to private speech.

Pavel Durov’s arrest suggests that the law enforcement dragnet is being widened from private financial transactions to private speech.

The arrest of the Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France this week is extremely significant. It confirms that we are deep into the second crypto war, where governments are systematically seeking to prosecute developers of digital encryption tools because encryption frustrates state surveillance and control. While the first crypto war in the 1990s was led by the United States, this one is led jointly by the European Union — now its own regulatory superpower.

Durov, a former Russian, now French citizen, was arrested in Paris on Saturday, and has now been indicted. You can read the French accusations here. They include complicity in drug possession and sale, fraud, child pornography and money laundering. These are extremely serious crimes — but note that the charge is complicity, not participation. The meaning of that word “complicity” seems to be revealed by the last three charges: Telegram has been providing users a “cryptology tool” unauthorised by French regulators.

  • istanbullu@lemmy.ml
    1·
    2 months ago

    there are plenty of clear cut examples of where telegram should shut down channels - CSAM etc… that’s what this arrest was about; the rest is academic

    Was it? The French authorities did not provide any convincing evidence, just accusations.

    • Pup BiruEnglish
      11·
      2 months ago

      you think they’re going to link to still available (that’s the point - they’re still available) sources of CSAM?

      if that’s your burden of proof then buddy i’m sorry to say there’s no way anyone’s going to convince you, and that’s not a good thing

      • istanbullu@lemmy.ml
        11·
        2 months ago

        This is the standard excuse for authoritarian governments. Use a crime category no one can object to.

        • Pup BiruEnglish
          11·
          2 months ago

          and this is called the slippery slope fallacy and is either a flaw in your logic or a way of arguing in bad faith. either way, it’s just fearmongering. if that’s all you’ve got then i have nothing more to say

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope

          • istanbullu@lemmy.ml
            11·
            2 months ago

            You are the one making up a fantasy scenario to satisfy your authotarian urges.