The charges against Pavel Durov, the future of encryption, and secondaries are heating up | E1998

28 Aug 2024 (21 days ago)

Telegram and Encryption in France

The French General Secretary of the Office of Miners, Jean-Miguel Berrod, stated that Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, was arrested on Saturday.
Pavel Durov, co-founder of VKontake and Telegram, was arrested in France, potentially due to Telegram's encryption practices and level of cooperation with French authorities.
Durov's arrest raises questions about the future of end-to-end encryption in France, particularly for services like Telegram, Signal, WhatsApp, and iMessage.
Telegram claims to abide by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act.
French President Emmanuel Macron stated that the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was part of an ongoing judicial investigation and not a political decision.

The arrest stems from a lack of moderation and cooperation from Telegram, particularly in combatting pedophilia.
A judicial investigation was opened against an unnamed individual on charges related to enabling illegal transactions, possession and distribution of child pornography, drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering, and providing uncertified cryptography services.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that weakening encryption violates the human right to privacy.
The United States government has not shut down private communications and encryption, but there is frustration with the inability to access encrypted services.
In 2014, then-FBI Director James Comey expressed concerns about the widespread use of end-to-end encryption.
Governments frequently seek to weaken encryption in the name of national security or child safety, as seen in a 2020 bill proposed by US Senators Cotton, Blackburn, and Graham.
The increasing accessibility of encryption technology, with apps like Signal, Telegram, and iMessage, has made it a target for governments seeking access to private data.
Giving up on encryption would mean that everything a person does would be public forever.
The United States is not close to the extremes of either dictatorships or free countries when it comes to encryption.

Americans are generally aligned in support of privacy.
Members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys used Signal for communication and their encrypted chats were used as evidence in court cases related to the events of January 6th.
Law enforcement has various methods to obtain information from encrypted messaging apps, including recruiting informants within groups or using legal tools like subpoenas and warrants.
There is speculation, though unconfirmed, that intelligence agencies like the CIA or FBI may have played a role in creating or compromising privacy-focused technologies like Bitcoin or the Tor network.

The U.S. government shut down Silk Road, an online marketplace used for illegal activities, including drug trafficking and hiring hitmen.
Backpage, a website known for prostitution advertisements, was shut down by the U.S. government due to the illegality of prostitution in the country.
Lavabit, a secure email service used by Edward Snowden, faced pressure from the government following Snowden's leak of classified documents.

ProtonMail utilizes end-to-end encryption, meaning if both the sender and recipient have encryption enabled, the message cannot be intercepted.
Government pressure can lead to the closure of smaller companies offering encrypted services, as exemplified by an unnamed company that chose to shut down rather than comply with government demands.
Social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, being private companies, have the right to implement their own moderation policies, including requiring real names or downranking political content.
There is concern that a small number of corporations have significant control over information access, similar to cable television's influence in the past.
Permanently banning a former president from social media platforms without a trial or due process raises concerns about censorship and the power dynamics between platforms and individuals.
Removing Section 230 protections, which allow companies to moderate content on their platforms, is considered a solution worse than the problem of corporate control over online speech.

This story is predicted to be significant for the rest of the year, potentially rivaling news from the US election in its impact on the technology industry.
Larry Ashbrook believes that shares in the secondary market can be purchased at a 30% discount to a company's value and a 70-80% discount to prices from 2021.
G Squared has raised $1.1 billion for its new secondary fund, bringing its total funds under management to $4 billion.
IBM is pulling 1,000 jobs, many related to research and development, out of China after experiencing declining revenues.
Manufacturing of Apple products, specifically iPhones, is shifting to India, with 25% of iPhones now being produced there.
This shift is partly attributed to concerns about the reliability of Chinese manufacturing due to political risks, exemplified by the seizure of Pavel Durov's business in Russia.
China is witnessing a surge in the development of humanoid robots, with 27 new models debuting at the World Robot Conference in Beijing.
Uber has partnered with Motional and BYD.
Uber has a feature called "teenager account" that allows parents to track their children's rides and receive alerts.
The speaker believes that self-driving technology will lead to a significant increase in ride-sharing, potentially growing from less than 1% of rides to 20% in the coming years.

Telegram is a popular app in Russia and Ukraine for communication and the spread of information.
Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, was reportedly making a large sum of money from the platform, though the source of this income is unknown.
The extent of Durov's involvement in the illegal activities allegedly taking place on Telegram, and whether he profited from them, is currently unknown and will likely be a key factor in the case against him.
Speculation suggests that there may be more to the arrest of Pavel Durov than currently known, with potential connections to national security and Telegram's cryptocurrency, Toncoin.