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Enjoy your open source encryption and OS (Linux) - and BACKDOORS!
asterisk14
Member
US government wanted backdoor to Telegram – founder
The US government wanted a so-called 'backdoor' in to Telegram in order to potentially spy on its users, the social media platform’s founder Pavel Durov has said.
According to Durov, one of his top employees once told him that he had been approached by the US government. “There was a secret attempt to hire my engineer behind my back by cybersecurity officers,” the businessman said.
“They were trying to persuade him to use certain open-source tools that he would then integrate into Telegram’s code that, in my understanding, would serve as backdoors,” Durov said.
https://swentr.site/news/596068-fbi-wanted-backdoor-to-telegram/
I'm sure all our open source encryption and OS's like Linux are backdoor free! 
Enjoy them.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
It also smells of sinister shit that the linux kernel doesn't block spoofed ::1 or ::ffff:127.0.0.1 on IPv6, as it does for IPv4.
From this interview,
okay, I'll be installing windows on my 64MB lxc then
There's no need to tell me about other Unix based oses or bsd.
I wouldn't trust anything to be backdoor free but with open source I can at least look at the code and see for myself. If I run proprietary closed source software, there is no way for me to tell.
I doubt that there's much of anything (iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, open source, etc.) that the NSA, CIA and other three letter agencies really can't get into if they really want to.
People go on and on about encryption and whilst it is good if your data falls into your neighbors hands, don't expect that CIA/MI6 don't have a backdoor into it.
Even if they don't have backdoor, in some EU countries if the regime asks for your encryption keys/windows password/phone password - you HAVE to provide it. If you don't because you have incriminating info on your computer or insist on privacy, it doesn't matter because you can get prison time for NOT giving them your passwords = so you're f***ed either way.
I guess they asked him to make it easier (like they asked Apple to unlock that phone and when Apple said no, CIA/FBI do it themselves anyway)
When is the last time you did a line by line FORENSIC inspection of the full code to Ubuntu or Centos?? I bet never! Even if you did, since the code relies on the community, how do you know that CIA programmers aren't making some of the code for Centos and inserting it in an update? You don't.
“They were trying to persuade him to use certain open-source tools that he would then integrate into Telegram’s code that, in my understanding, would serve as backdoors,” Durov said
Moved from General to News (for what it's worth, which isn't much)
@asterisk14 , you're aware that the Russians in the Kremlin also wanted a backdoor to Telegram and even banned Telegram for a while (for a couple of years?) when they didn't get what they wanted, right?
Actually the Russians dropped the ban on telegram after a few days when the populace so demanded.
I've just checked: Telegram was officially blocked for over two years in Russia. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocking_of_Telegram_in_Russia
At the same time, it wasn't a very effective block, nor was it popular
But officially, Telegram was blocked for over two years
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/telegram-fixes-windows-app-zero-day-used-to-launch-python-scripts/
"Russians in the Kremlin" what a ridiculous language/phrase!
Are you aware that the Americans in the White House also have/want a backdoor into everything (including Cisco and other routers/WIndows/Linus and other OS/Android/Apple/etc)?
It's not so much about if he reviewed the code himself but rather if anyone did, which for large parts of all the massive amounts of open source code out there these days highly likely is a straight "No". A lot of it just sits there slowly bit rotting away. That's not necessarily all that bad though as long as checkins are sufficiently vetted by competent and picky people. Sure that won't fix bugs, which safely exist too, or removes any backdoors that have been put there ages ago but any somewhat important project that just randomly accepts pull requests or blindly trusts every committer these days without making triple sure that there's nothing fishy or somehow incomprehensible being added is basically guilty of negligence.
I somewhat feel that open-source tools probably refers to the backdoored version of libxz that was discovered recently, so there seems to be at least some kind of post-commit inspection but pre-commit checking obviously completely failed.
According to https://securelist.com/xz-backdoor-story-part-1/112354/ it took about a month for the backdoor to be discovered, which is obviously purely anecdotal and on a larger scale going to vary widely from basically instantly to never.
Not overly surprising. I think it's safe to assume that every semi-popular communication tool is being targeted pretty much worldwide and if security/privacy is a serious goal going off the beaten path to something as decentralized and simple as possible is basically mandatory. Not because such systems are inherently more secure but because it's more work to compromise 10 clients than it is with just a single one and the more simple something is the more manipulation attempts (hopefully) stick out.
It's already somewhat crazy that people try to get secure communication out of what's basically a blackbox ecosystem with more or less centralized control like Google's or Apple's phone OSs.
Why is it ridiculous?
I don't hold all Russians responsible for what the Russians in the Kremlin decide to do (and by "Russians in the Kremlin" I obviously mean 'Russians in power')
You started this thread with the insinuation that the Americans (in the White House/in power) are somehow exceptional/special in having wanted to get a backdoor to Telegram. My point is that the Americans (in the White House/in power) aren't exceptional/special in this respect
Well, not that i really care all that much but it's kind of a strange way for saying "Russian government", isn't it?
I prefer to blame people
(No one has ever seen, heard, or spoken with a government)
Well, i figure it's the people that make up the government but fair enough. I get where you are coming from. I guess my personal preference the other way around might have something to do my impression that governments in general aren't overly friendly one way or another regardless of which constellation of persons they consist of.
My government has never done anything bad
A government isn't itself friendly or unfriendly -- the category of (un)friendliness doesn't apply to governments
Which countries tho
Agreed. It's not really a very appropriate term but then i didn't see much of a reason to go into this at some kind of super deep level. I guess, it's kinda obvious what i'm referring to. You can exchange the people in a government all you want but the end result will still authorize (or at least not prevent) spying and all that stuff. There might be some different shades of gray but that's really pretty much it.
Edit: Obviously unless the country in question is Sweden. That's the exception that proves the rule
This is simply too naive.
Bringing this "breaking news" up again is clearly 100% Russian propaganda.
It should be moved to the Russia/Ukraine thread where it belongs.
It's just my personal preference to speak of people
(All too often, we blame governments as though they were autonomous beings capable of doing things on their own)
fake news.
[MSS has entered the conversation]
Yeah, i got that and to my best knowledge i've said nothing against this. I basically stated that i get where you are coming from and explained my personal position. As far as i'm concerned there is no argument or anything. I was simply being curious.
That's true. For more specific things i'd probably also rather name the actual persons behind it.
I basically agree with you, which is why I said that this news "isn't worth much"
The OP is notorious around here, with a history of warnings and temp-bans. I have no illusions about him as such
Moving beyond Telegram, there's any number of examples of governments around the world who try or have tried to spy on their residents/citizens
The US government isn't exceptional/special in this respect, nor is the Russian government
Exceptional/special would be a government that doesn't try to spy on their residents/citizens
(For brevity, I speak here of "government(s)")
Because it sounds like something John Bolton/McCain/John Kirby (paid liar) would say speaking from the podium in the "Americans in the White House" room before declaring war on the Russians in the Kremlin. It is rediculous language. Do you write their press briefings?
I made no such insinuation about exceptionalism, I just copied and pasted a news report from a media outlet. You are free to copy and paste a news report about this story from the BBC/CNN/NBC/CBS/Sky if you prefer - but I can't find it strangely on these sites.
Not strange, just ridiculous. I very much doubt he writes "Americans in the White House" when referring to USA govt.
In the country mentioned in the article below (Britain regime) and they did it to a journalist:
https://thegrayzone.com/2023/05/30/journalist-kit-klarenberg-british-police-interrogated-grayzone/
It is an offense to refuse to answer questions (no right to silence/self incrimination), it is an offense to give false answers to questions, they imaged his laptop, phone, and asked him to give his passwords.
Section 49 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (‘RIPA’) gives the police the power to ... demand a person disclose their PIN, and section 53 makes it an offence for failing to comply with such a notice.
Failing to comply could mean a custodial sentence of two years to five years .
Obviously, the regime could this to you repeatably, sending you back to prison for 5 years each time you refuse to give them your passwords. So you either hand over your password or spend life in prison. SO encryption is pretty moot, privacy none existent.
Sounds like @nocloud has a duplicate account!
So you write the "Americans in the White House" or not when referring to the USA regime?
My view is the opposite, I think even if the Pope was the head of the "Americans in the White House" and Mother Teresa was the spokesman to the "Americans in the White House", we would hear the same rhetoric, propaganda and lies. They would just follow the script like the current "Americans in the White House" are doing.
No more so than in the Rules Based World Order Civilized Club of Nations (TM).
Bans and warnings from biased moderators with an axe to grind like @Arkas who posts propaganda in the same thread I am accused to being a propagandist in? Very mature! I thought it's a serious forum, I am disappoint that it is filled with lowendpeople like yourself. Are you going to have a melt down like @Arkas and ban me now?
One of the members here tried to trick me into doxxing me and the mods took no action against them even though this member admitted they did this, but I get warnings and bans for complaining about it!
Man, you act as though this were such a big news item, but it isn't. It's about something that Durov said happened in 2016. And he said this in a Tucker Carlson interview. Wow
I'm not saying that Durov is lying. He's probably relating what happened as he remembers it. But ultimately, it's just his word, which we can take at face value or not. As far as I can tell, there isn't any independent evidence or confirmation of what happened
So, yes, one can take what Durov said in a Tucker Carlson interview to be so revelatory and newsworthy -- as you apparently do -- and then be puzzled why it's not on the front page of every news outlet across the world
Or one can take it as probably more or less true about something that happened in 2016 (if one takes Durov at his word), but which is greatly overshadowed by much more pressing and independently verifiable news and events of the present time