When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

You've reached your limit of one free article.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime .

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Exclusive International news coverage

Ad-free experience NEW

Weekly digital Magazine NEW

9 daily & weekly Newsletters

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Free trial

30-days free access, then $2.90
per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Russia

Telegram: Why Russian Courts Can't Really Block The App

Protesters during a rally to support Telegram in Kaliningrad on April, 30
Protesters during a rally to support Telegram in Kaliningrad on April, 30
Vladislav Novyy

MOSCOW — On April 13, a Russian court decreed an immediate blocking of the app Telegram across the country. The decision came after the refusal of Telegram to provide Russian security services with access to users' private messages. The authorities said it was a necessity in the fight against terrorist threats. However, Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, declared that the authorities' requirement would not improve Russia"s security, and would violate people's privacy and contradict the Constitution. He said the blockage was illegitimate and promised to do everything possible to prevent its implementation. So what happened next?

It is Roskomnadzor, the Russian communications regulator, that was charged with shutting down Telegram, a technical process of restricting the app was begun on April 16, 2018. The actions resulted in the hindering of functions of third parties but caused almost no problems for Telegram itself. A month has passed since the moment of the blockage of Telegram but Roskomnadzor has not managed to seriously limit access to the messenger. Experts say that further development of the situation does not depend so much on the authorities' actions, but on decisions of Apple and Google, which are still siding with Telegram.

telegram_ceo

Telegram's CEO Pavel Durof at TechCrunch Disrupt SF in San Francisco, U.S. on Sept. 21, 2015 — Photo: TechCrunch

Kommersant spoke with an insider from the industry, who said it was a bad move by authorities to try to start blocking the app right after the court decision. Even just the analysis of such an ambitious task should have taken at least five days. Other experts had voiced similar opinions, including those from the Ministry of Communication who warned Roskomnadzor that the situation might develop unpredictably.

The privacy rights of all internet users are at stake.

The main reason why Telegram manages to evade the blockage is the existence of a constant channel of communication with users' gadgets via push-notifications that are sent from the servers of Apple and Google. Roskomnadzor has already discussed with the operators what methods are available for the blocking of push-notifications that Telegram sends to users. The regulator has also sent Apple and Google demands to remove the Telegram apps from the online-shop, but it hasn't happened yet.

Apple and Google have not explained why they don't fulfill the requirement on Telegram, but for the moment the decision is serving their PR interests. Telegram's Durov has repeatedly declared that the conflict is not caused by the refusal to satisfy the request concerning data of six users suspected of being involved in the April 2017 explosion of the metro in Saint Petersburg. With the privacy rights of all internet users at stake, there are political and reputational risks that can reach around the world.

Kommersant"s source is acquainted with the details of the standoff, and says that it is not only about politics: unlike Linkedin, Telegram simply has "stronger arguments against the blockage." The Russian company is also capable of countering destructive influence alone, by embedded methods of evading blockages that are partly similar to those ones that were patented ten years ago by scholars from the Russian ministry of defense.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

Palestinian Olive Trees Are Also Under Israeli Occupation — And That's Not A Joke

In the West Bank, a quieter form of oppression has been plaguing Palestinians for a long time. Their olive groves are surrounded by soldiers, and it's forbidden to harvest the olives – this economic and social violence has gotten far worse since Oct. 7.

A Palestinian woman holds olives in her hands

In a file photo, Um Ahmed, 74, collects olives in the village of Sarra on the southwest of the West Bank city of Nablus.

Mohammed Turabi/ZUMA
Francesca Mannocchi

HEBRON – It was after Friday prayers on October 13th of last year, and Zakaria al-Arda was walking along the road that crosses his property's hillside to return home – but he never made it.

A settler from Havat Ma'on — an outpost bordering Al-Tuwani that the United Nations International Law and Israeli law considers illegal — descended from the hill with his rifle in hand.

For the latest news & views from every corner of the world, Worldcrunch Today is the only truly international newsletter. Sign up here.

After kicking al-Arda, who tried to defend himself, the settler shot him in the abdomen. The bullet pierced through his stomach, a few centimeters below the lungs. Since then, al-Arda has been in the hospital in intensive care. A video of those moments clearly shows that neither al-Arda nor the other worshippers leaving the mosque were carrying any weapons.

The victim's cousin, Hafez Hureini, still lives in the town of Al-Tuwani. He is a farmer, and their house on the slope of the town is surrounded by olive trees — and Israeli soldiers. On the pine tree at the edge of his property, settlers have planted an Israeli flag. Today, Hafez lives, like everyone else, as an occupied individual.

He cannot work in his greenhouse, cannot sow his fields, and cannot harvest the olives from his precious olive trees.

Keep reading...Show less

The latest