Russia's ongoing efforts to censor the internet continue to escalate. In 2016, Russia passed a law mandating encryption backdoors into hardware and apps, a move, again that was pushed under the pretense that weakening security for everyone magically increases national security. Last year, Russia escalated things by effectively blocking usage of VPNs, a move that makes it easier for the country to spy on its own citizens. A new Russian law took root last November that effectively makes operating a functional VPN in the country all but impossible.
Meanwhile, Putin's government is also escalating its war on encrypted messaging apps.
The Russian government this week began legal proceedings to ban encrypted messaging app Telegram from Russia entirely, another move intended to prevent Russian citizens from being able to dodge government surveillance. Telegram has refused to hand over encryption keys for the service after being given an April 4 deadline. They also state the way Telegram is built makes even doing so impossible.
Telegram's lawyer, Pavel Chikov called the government's looming legal assault on the company "groundless".
"The FSB's requirements to provide access to private conversations of users are unconstitutional, baseless, which cannot be fulfilled technically and legally," Chikov said.
“Russia will probably not stop--it will most likely target each company and website they’re interested in, to hand over user information or simply block them. The demand of the Russian government for the encryption keys of Telegram also shows its lack of understanding of how the technology works – besides being a violation of privacy and freedom of speech," NordVPN CMO Marty P. Kamden said of the fracas. "The whole purpose of encrypted messaging apps is to keep the communications private."
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