A policy change at Telegram will forever change the way the popular messaging app operates. An announcement on the official channel claims that they will hand over the IP addresses and phone numbers of their users to the authorities in an attempt to control criminal activity on the platform. It should be stressed that the handing over of data must occur with guarantees, i.e. in response to valid legal requests.
In compliance with these changes, the company explicitly declares in its page dedicated to privacy policies the following: «If Telegram receives a valid order from the relevant judicial authorities confirming that you are a suspect in a case involving criminal activities that violate Telegram’s Terms of Service, we will conduct a legal analysis of the request and may disclose your IP address and phone number to the relevant authorities.”
It is worth noting that this policy change in Telegram is very important, as previous versions of its policy limited the sharing of user information to cases involving Terrorism suspects. And nothing more..
There are other important changes. Data disclosure will be included in regular transparency reports, and the service will be able to collect metadata such as IP address, devices, Telegram apps used, and username change history for address spam, abuse and other even more serious violations.
Is this policy change at Telegram a problem?
It is obvious that all these changes (such as the content report we saw) are taking place after the arrest in France of Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram, currently at liberty on bail.
But is it negative? No, for the vast majority of people. ‘Normal’ people, if you’ll allow us the expression. The balance between freedom of expression and information, privacy and respect for others has never been easy, but in the era of connectivity and social networks it is becoming an impossible mission.
Telegram is rife with scumbags, as on all social networks, and its owners have been busy doing business rather than moderating and controlling illegal activities. Pavel Durov is accused of this, of doing nothing (or very little) to prevent the major threats to the platformhate and/or disinformation campaigns, refuge for paedophiles, money laundering, drug trafficking, software piracy and more.
But there are many more of us who are ‘normal’ and respectful of the rules and people. We love Telegram and in fact we use it professionally to offer you channels from six of our portals, from MC to MCPRO, including, of course, muylinux, where we started it. We have defended the platform when it has been subject to absolutely disproportionate measures, but France’s case against Telegram is well-founded and changes in the usage policy are necessary even if they involve privacy.
Source: www.muycomputer.com
