On Friday the Russian government banned the messenger application Telegram because they refused to give out the encryption key to the authorities. Russia claims that the application can be used by terrorists and is threatening the country’s security.
Why is this court rule important?
- It shows that Telegram is a safe mean of communication. It has been put to the test and it survived.
- We can see the fear that the government have for the new technology, a techonology they cannot control.
- It shows how lame the actions by authorities are in practise. This law can easily be circumvented by using TOR and is therefore, in practise, useless. Russia haven’t been able to do a single thing against Telegram’s users.
The new techonology and a new mind-set is here, one that stands on the side of the people, not of the government.