Last Friday, a Russian court ruled against the encrypted messaging app Telegram for refusing to grant Russian authorities access to its chats. Telegram argued that it was technically unable to do this, as the chats are encrypted on users' devices. The government countered that Telegram should then rewrite the app's software to make it possible. Telegram refused.
On Monday, the government began efforts to block access to Telegram. That started a chain of events that interfered with businesses and organizations throughout Russia, but failed to prevent most Russian users from accessing Telegram.
Russia's main media and telecommunications censorship body, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, also called by its Russian abbreviation Roskomnadzor, ordered Russia's ISPs to block access to IP addresses that used Telegram.
This is easier said than done. Telegram hires domain fronting, a technique for evading censorship by connecting through a series of servers. Domain fronting is essentially a proxy for the hosting provider–it allows the content owned, in this case Telegram, to direct users to their content through multiple connects. Telegram's initial connect is through the global cloud computing services provided by Amazon and Google, so when Russia's censors look for forbidden Telegram domains, all they see is Amazon and Google. Telegram began utilize this technique last December following endeavors by Iran to censor the messenger during protests in that country.
As long as Telegram has access to the considerable resources of Amazon and Google, totally blocking it will be difficult. If Roskomnadzor blocks a particular IP address or domain, Telegram can move to another. These are pushed to users via the cloud computing provider outside of Russia, in this case Google and Amazon. The Russian government has little insight.
In a bid to prevent Telegram from moving between multiple Amazon and Google IP addresses, Roskomnadzor took the unprecedented step of ordering ISPs to block virtually 16 million IP address, in the hopes of blocking a significant portion of those used by Telegram. Unsurprisingly for such a large number, Telegram was not the only user of so many IP address, and as a result of the blocks multiple companies in Russia received themselves cut off from the internet.
Gamers hoping to use Nintendo's online service were blocked, as were Volvo dealerships running aftermarket diagnostics programs, Viber users, and ticket sales for museums in the Kremlin. Roskomnadzor may have even censored itself: Its website was inaccessible and its system for monitoring compliance with filtering orders was offline for a short time. The legal advocacy organisation Agora reported that it received complaints from 73 companies and will be pressing charges on their behalf.
One company that does not appear to be significantly impacted is Telegram. Telegram has remained largely available to Russian users. Roskomnadzor claims that the blocks cut off 30 percentage of Russian traffic to Telegram, but Telegram says that figure is closer to 5 percentage. Those that do encounter blocks are able to circumvent them utilizing Virtual Private Networks and proxies. Russian users unsure where they could find a VPN are currently surrounded by ads for VPNs on social media taking advantage of the high-profile situation to promote their particular services.
Popular Telegram channels report that views and subscriptions are increasing with the ban providing them with a bit of a Streisand effect. Telegram founder Pavel Durov reports that Telegram has not observed a significant drop in engagement, and promised a million dollars in bitcoin to developers of VPNs and other services that allow users to keep their access.
Opposition resources appear to be benefiting as well. Site unavailable to many readers because they were already blocked are now accessible to Russians utilize VPNs to access Telegram.
Even the government's leadership seems to be having a hard time quitting Telegram. On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov use a conference call with journalists organized on Telegram to announce that his office would soon move to another service.
That service would be ICQ, the messenger last popular in the West in the late 1990 s. ICQ maintained some popularity in Russia for a little while longer, lasting until it was replaced in recent years by messengers like Telegram. At the time, the Russian government explored multiple alternatives to control ICQ, first float regulation, then the idea of funding a Russian competitor, before resolve on its buy in 2010 by Digital Sky Technologies. The company is headed by Yuri Milner, a Russian billionaire with ties to the Russian government knew of the West for his investments in Facebook and Twitter.
While Russians could change to ICQ–or more likely, other encrypted messengers like Signal or WhatsApp–many will probably stay with Telegram. It is the messenger they already know and use, but it is also more than simply a mean for private communication.
In addition to private chats, Telegram supportings channels. These channels can be joined by large numbers of people and are used to discuss a range of topics from pop culture to business development. Among them are channels for sharing news, political discussions and rumors without nation interference, and for organizing opponent activity and protests.
These groups attracted government displeasure, and played an important role in the decision to take such drastic measures against Telegram, but they are not the only ones. Another group of Telegram users that understandably concerns the Russian government is terrorists, including ISIS and terrorists in Russia. The Federal Security Service, or FSB, has said that it has ” reliable info” that terrorists hired Telegram to plan a terrorist attack on the St. Petersburg metro that killed 15 people in April 2017. The ability to share information in more public channels while conducting secure chats all in one place is as attractive to them as it is to anti-corruption activists.
These terrorists are a concern, but they are a small number of users and already depicted signs of migrating from Telegram after all the publicity about their hire of the platform. The terrorists are now an excuse to clumsily go after the entire app, and with it, 16 million IP address and the businesses that are dependent upon them.
The apparent failure to stop Telegram and high level of collateral damage has many observers snickering at Roskomnadzor and the Russian government. It could be easy to reject it as yet another example of Russian efforts at regulating the internet by people who do not understand how it runs. However, this time there may be a bigger strategy than simply knocking Telegram offline with the internet equivalent of a very a large hammer.
This is not the first time that Russia use pressure on Amazon and Google's cloud services to silence a messenger. That was the walkie-talkie app Zello. Beginning in 2016, Russian truck drivers conducted a series of coordinated protests against a road tax system collectively operated by the state and the Rotenberg brethren, two oligarchs known for their personal relationship with Vladimir Putin. The truckers utilized Zello to coordinate protests.
When Russia attempted to censor Zello, that app avoided censorship endeavors use Amazon and Google cloud services to move between IP address. Earlier this month, the Russian government be in danger of block 15 million IP address if cloud service providers did not cease assisting Zello. Amazon was the first to give in, asking Zello to leave. The company then moved to Google, but after about 10 days Google also dedicated in to Russian pressure asked Zello to stop using their services.
That successful pressure may be why Roskomnadzor is pursuing such a drastic course of action against Telegram now. Telegram is bigger than Zello, and better known, which builds cutting it off more difficult for cloud service providers such as Amazon and Google. Roskomnadzor may be hoping that a demonstrated willingness to cause the companies' customers real ache in pursuit of a block may encourage cooperation in this case, or in future efforts to block sites. It could also serve as a deterrent to companies considering refusing to cooperate with Russian authorities.
One of those companies could be Facebook. In an interview with the newspaper Izvestia , Roskomnadzor head Aleksander Zharov said that his agency would be investigating Facebook by the end of the year if it has failed to comply with a ordinance would like to request that the personal data of all Russians be stored in Russia, the said law that Roskomnadzor cited as justification for blocking Zello. Zharov previously announced plans to investigate Twitter for the same law as well, although Roskomnadzor already announced that Twitter agreed to comply.
All of which should be a concern not just to Russians, but to the whole world. If these intimidation tactics work in Russia, then there is nothing stopping other governments from doing the same, as long as they are willing to let their businesses suffer the consequences. This may even have already begun. This Wednesday, Iran announced that officials were forbidden from use Telegram and further censorship may follow.
Read more: www.thedailybeast.com
