Tag Archives: arrest

The arrest of Telegram CEO proves tech giants are not exempt from the law

Posted on by
Reply

ohOn August 24, when the Russian tech tycoon’s private jet landed at Le Bourget airport northeast of Paris, officers from the French judicial police were waiting for him. He was duly arrested and taken in for questioning. Four days later, he was indicted on 12 charges, including distribution of child exploitation material and complicity in drug trafficking, banned from leaving France, placed under “judicial supervision,” and required to report to the gendarmes twice a week until further notice.

The tycoon in question, Pavel Durov, is a tech entrepreneur who collects nationalities the way he collects airline miles. His Nationality Durov is French and was generously donated by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2021. Durov also appears to be a fitness fanatic with a strict daily routine: “After a recorded eight hours of sleep, Financial Times According to the report, “Without exception, he starts his days with 200 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and an ice bath. He doesn’t drink alcohol, smoke, eat sugar or meat, and takes time to meditate.” When he’s not engaged in these demanding activities, he’s also found time to be a sperm donor, father over 100 children, and rival Elon Musk as a free speech extremist.

Durov’s media profiles recall Churchill’s famous description of Russia as “an enigma wrapped in an enigma.” Durov left Russia after the Facebook clone he co-founded with his brother Nikolai in 2006 brought him into conflict with the Kremlin. He eventually emigrated to the United Arab Emirates, where he launched Telegram, a private social media platform that is as mysterious as its founder.

Telegram has around 950 million regular users. It is also a messaging system like WhatsApp, but allows groups up to 200,000 people, whereas WhatsApp has a limit of 1,024, so in that sense it is also a broadcasting system like X. One-to-one communication is only end-to-end encrypted if the user selects the “Secret Chat” option, but since many internet users do not change the default settings, in effect, According to one security expert“The vast majority of Telegram one-to-one conversations, and literally all group chats, are likely viewable on Telegram’s servers.”

Given that, it’s puzzling why there are so many bad actors on the platform. After all, rats generally hate sunlight. One critic says:“Telegram is the closest thing to a widespread dark web. Nearly a billion ordinary people are in contact with criminals, hackers, terrorists and child abusers. Despite the lack of technical security and privacy, the platform is a honeypot for people operating in the shadows.” And the reason they stay may be because Durov doesn’t believe in content moderation. In fact, he sometimes boasts about how lean he is running his operation. Like Musk, he doesn’t believe in expensive moderation teams. And it is believed that one of the reasons France prosecuted him is the way his company refused to cooperate with law enforcement agencies investigating criminal activity on the platform.

Telegram’s finances are also shrouded in mystery. Financial Times A detailed look at the company’s 2023 business plan reveals a loss of $173 million for that year. The company’s business model is vague, consisting of basic advertising, subscriptions, and (wait for it!) Toncoin cryptocurrency. There was talk of an IPO before Durov’s arrest, but that now seems like a pipe dream.

But all this is just noise obscuring the landmark importance of Durov’s arrest in a broader context. For the past 30 years, the democratic world has been gloomy about two challenges posed by technology and its corporate-controlled world. The first is the immunity given to tech tycoons by Article 230 of the Constitution. The Communications Decency Act of 1996,This absolved them from responsibility for the content displayed on their ,platform.,The second concern was the conflict between local laws and ,global technology that transcends borders.

Now, just as Durov’s plane landed in Le Bourget, a U.S. district court judge Landmark ruling This signals that the free ride given to companies by Section 230 may be coming to an end. French law officials have also signaled to tech moguls that while they may think they rule the world, France controls its own airspace. That’s why Musk might have to think twice about flying over Europe in the future. Long live France!

What I’m Reading

Hold that thought
Those who think think A lovely, quirky essay by Joseph Epstein. London Review of Books On the art of difficult thinking.

Skip Newsletter Promotions

Authority
read The dangers of state powerA transcript of a wonderful interview that Yasha Maunk conducted with the late, great anthropologist James C. Scott.

Black Book
Roland Allen’s entertaining essays Moleskine Mania: How the Notebook Conquered the Digital Age of Walrus His eyes turn to the strange persistence of the black notebook.

  • Do you have an opinion on any issue raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of 250 words or less for consideration for publication, please email it to observer.letters@observer.co.uk

Source: www.theguardian.com

Arrest of Telegram CEO could further solidify his reputation as an internet visionary

Posted on by
Reply

circleWhen Pavel Durov faced criticism from Russian regulators for promoting adult content on his social media platform VKontakte, he responded by changing his Twitter handle from “VK CEO” to “Porn King.”

Over a decade later, Durov’s anti-authoritarian views and moderation practices have led to even more significant issues.

A 39-year-old man was indicted by a Paris court for his involvement in distributing child sexual abuse images on the Telegram messaging app and other offenses.

Since its launch in 2013, Durov has positioned Telegram as a politically impartial space for free speech, resisting government influence. Despite mounting global regulation targeting tech companies and criticism for criminal and terrorist use of his platform, Durov seemed unperturbed.

However, recent events indicate that Durov may have overestimated his position of power and freedom. Following his bail payment of €5 million (£4.2 million) to avoid prison, he had to surrender three passports, limiting his ability to move freely.

Born in the Soviet Union in 1984, Durov exhibited a rebellious streak from a young age, challenging authority and displaying immense self-confidence. His journey from founding VKontakte to creating Telegram has been marked by bold decisions and a commitment to freedom of expression.

Durov’s eccentricities and tech innovations have drawn comparisons to Steve Jobs rather than Mark Zuckerberg. His unorthodox leadership style and strong beliefs have shaped his public persona as a visionary in the tech world.

Telegram’s success, boasting nearly a billion users, showcases Durov’s entrepreneurial skills and technological acumen. The app’s innovative features have attracted a diverse user base and have been instrumental in social movements across the globe.

Despite facing challenges and legal troubles, Durov continues to advocate for freedom of speech and positions himself as a champion of the cause. His journey from a rebellious teenager to a tech giant reflects a complex and intriguing narrative in the digital age.

Additional reporting by Kim Wilshere in Paris

Source: www.theguardian.com

Arrest of Telegram co-founder intensifies stakes for European Union

Posted on by
Reply

The unexpected arrest of Pavel Durov, the co-founder of Telegram and a native of Russia, upon arriving in Paris from a private jet last Saturday night, has brought the previously overlooked social network into the limelight like never before.

Durov’s arrest, following an investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office into organized crime, child sexual abuse imagery, fraud, and money laundering on the platform, also raises the stakes for the European Union, which has implemented some of the most ambitious internet regulations in the world, notably the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA, set to take effect in November 2022, aims to govern online platforms that, in the words of EU Commissioner Thierry Breton, are “too large to manage,” requiring them to remove illegal content, safeguard children, and combat misinformation and other online harms.

The European Commission has distanced itself from the French investigation of Durov. A spokesperson stated, “This is solely a national criminal investigation conducted by French authorities in accordance with French criminal law.” They added, “It is unrelated to the DSA.”

The allegations against the 39-year-old tech magnate have intensified pressure on the European Commission and Belgium, the member state responsible for regulating Telegram on behalf of the EU. Jan Penfrat of the European Digital Rights Group (EDRi) questioned, “If content moderation is such a significant problem that it leads to criminal cases, why hasn’t the DSA addressed it yet?”

Telegram, a hybrid messaging service and social network with around 200,000 users, has been a cause for concern among European officials for some time. Despite attracting nearly a billion users worldwide, the service now faces stricter regulations under European law, despite having only 41 million monthly active users in the EU.

Enforcement of the law may face challenges, as some EU member states, including Belgium, are facing legal action for not appointing the Digital Services Coordinator, the entity responsible for implementing the DSA. Belgium has tasked the enforcement of the DSA to an organization that lacks the authority to investigate Telegram.

EU officials doubt Telegram’s assertion that its 41 million monthly active EU users place it just below the threshold for the strictest regulations. European Commission Vice-President Vera Jourova expressed concerns over Telegram’s impact in certain member states.

The European Commission is reviewing Telegram’s user data to determine if it meets the criteria to be recognized as a “very large online platform.” Discussions between the Commission and Telegram are ongoing, with the platform required to publish its latest monthly user data by the end of the month.

Activists emphasize the importance of transparency from Telegram. EDRi’s Penfrat stated, “An online platform with such a significant user base should operate with more transparency, even if it is not officially considered a VLOP (very large online platform).”

“The public and regulators need to be informed about the platform’s operations,” Penfrat emphasized.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Arrest of Telegram founder has implications for regulation of social media companies

Posted on by
Reply

vinegarWe've reached a point where the CEO of a major social network is being arrested and detained. This is a big change, and it happened in a way that nobody expected. From Jennifer Rankin in Brussels:

French judicial authorities on Sunday extended the detention of Telegram's Russian-born founder. Pavel DurovHe was arrested at Paris airport on suspicion of misconduct related to the messaging app.

Once this detention phase is over, the judge can decide whether to release the defendant or to charge him or her and detain him further.

French investigators had issued a warrant for Durov's arrest as part of an investigation into charges of fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, promoting terrorism and cyberbullying.

Durov, who holds French citizenship in addition to the United Arab Emirates, St. Kitts and Nevis and his native Russia, was arrested as he disembarked from a private jet after returning from the Azerbaijan capital, Baku, on Sunday evening. Telegram released a statement::

⚖️ Telegram complies with EU law, including the Digital Services Act, and its moderation is within industry standards and is constantly being improved.

✈️ Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently to Europe.

😵‍💫 It is absurd to claim that the platform or its owners are responsible for misuse of their platform.

French authorities said on Monday that Durov's arrest was part of a cybercrime investigation.

Paris prosecutor Laure Vecuot said the investigation concerns crimes related to illegal trading, child sexual abuse, fraud and refusal to provide information to authorities.

On the surface, the arrests seem decidedly different from previous years. Governments have had tough talk with messaging platform providers in the past, but arrests have been few and far between. Often, when platform operators are arrested, as in the cases of Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht and Megaupload's Kim Dotcom, authorities can argue that the platforms would not have existed without the crimes.

Telegram has long operated as a lightly moderated service, partly because of its roots as a chat app rather than a social network, partly because of Durov's own experience dealing with Russian censors, and partly (as many argue) because it is simply cheaper to have fewer moderators and less direct control over the platform.

But even if a company's moderation team's weaknesses can expose it to fines under laws such as the UK's Online Safety Act or the EU's Digital Services Act, they rarely lead to personal charges, and even less to executives being jailed.

Encryption

But Telegram has one feature that makes it slightly different from its peers, such as WhatsApp and Signal: the service is not end-to-end encrypted.

WhatsApp, Signal and Apple's iMessage are built from the ground up to ensure that content shared on the services cannot be read by anyone other than the intended recipient, including not only the companies that run the platforms but also law enforcement agencies that may be called upon to cooperate.

This has caused endless friction between the world's largest tech companies and the governments that regulate them, but for now, it seems the tech companies have won the main battle: No one is seriously calling for end-to-end encryption to be banned anymore, and regulators and critics are instead calling for messaging services to be monitored differently, with approaches such as “client-side scanning.”

Telegram is different. The service offers end-to-end encryption through a little-used opt-in feature called “Secret Chats,” but by default, conversations are encrypted only enough to be unreadable by anyone connected to your Wi-Fi network. To Telegram itself, messages sent outside of “Secret Chats” (including all group chats, and all messages and comments in one of the service's broadcast “channels”) are effectively unencrypted.

This product decision sets Telegram apart from the pack, yet oddly enough, the company's marketing suggests that the difference is almost the exact opposite. Cryptography expert Matthew Green:

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov continues to aggressively promote the app as a “secure messenger.” issued a scathing criticism He blocked Signal and WhatsApp in his personal Telegram channel, suggesting that these systems were rigged with US government backdoors and that only Telegram's independent encryption protocol could truly be trusted.

Watching Telegram urge people to forego using a messenger that's encrypted by default while refusing to implement a key feature that would broadly encrypt messages for its own users is no longer amusing. In fact, it's starting to feel a bit sinister.

I can't v won't

Paper planes are placed outside near the French Embassy in Moscow in support of Pavel Durov, who was arrested in France. Photo: Yulia Morozova/Reuters

The result of Telegram's mismatch between technology and marketing is a disappointing one: The company, and Durov personally, are selling the app to people who worry that even the gold standards of secure messengers — WhatsApp and Signal — aren't secure enough for their needs, especially from the U.S. government.

At the same time, if the government were to knock on Telegram's door and ask for information about actual or suspected criminals, Telegram would not have the same security as other services. End-to-end encrypted services could honestly tell law enforcement that they could not cooperate. In the long run, this could easily create a rather hostile atmosphere, but the conversation could also become a general conversation about privacy and policing principles.

Telegram, by contrast, is faced with a choice: cooperate with law enforcement, ignore it, or declare that it will not actively cooperate. This is no different from the choice facing the vast majority of online companies, from Amazon to Zoopla, except that Telegram's user base is the only one that demands security from law enforcement.

Every time Telegram says “yes” to police, it infuriates its user base; every time it says “no,” it plays a game of chicken with law enforcement.

The contours of the differences between France and Telegram will inevitably be swamped in conversations about “content moderation” and supporters will rally around it accordingly (Elon Musk has already weighed in, saying, “#FreePavel“) But the conversations are usually about publicly available material and what X or Facebook should or shouldn't do to moderate the discussion on their sites. Private messaging services and group messaging services are fundamentally different services, which is why mainstream end-to-end encrypted services exist. But by trying to straddle both markets, Telegram may have lost both defenses.

Final Question

My last day at the Guardian is fast approaching and next week's emails will be handed over to you, the reader. If you have a question you'd like an answer to, a doubt that's been simmering in the back of your mind for years, or are just curious about the inner workings of Techscape, please reply to this email or get in touch with me directly at alex.hern@theguardian.com. Ask me anything.

If you'd like to read the full newsletter, sign up to receive TechScape in your inbox every Tuesday.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Former Twitter CEO calls for Elon Musk’s arrest for provoking riots in the UK

Posted on by
Reply

A former Twitter executive has suggested that Elon Musk should be subject to “personal sanctions” and the possibility of an “arrest warrant” if he is found to be disrupting public order on his social media platform.

Bruce Daisley, Twitter’s former vice president for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, expressed in the Guardian that it is unfair to let tech billionaires like Musk tamper with discord without facing personal consequences.

He urged Chancellor Keir Starmer to toughen online safety laws and assess whether media regulator Ofcom is equipped to handle fast-moving individuals like Musk.

Daisley emphasized that the threat of personal sanctions is more effective against executives than the risk of corporate fines, as it could impact the lavish lifestyles of tech billionaires.

The UK government has urged social media platforms to act responsibly following recent riots, attributing them to false information spread online, including claims about asylum seekers.

Musk’s inflammatory posts, such as predicting civil war in the UK, have garnered criticism from government officials, with some calling his remarks unacceptable.

Daisley, who worked at Twitter from 2012 to 2020, described Musk as someone who behaves like a reckless teenager and suggested that an arrest warrant might make him reconsider his actions.

He emphasized the need for legislation to establish boundaries for acceptable behavior on social media and questioned whether tech billionaires should be allowed to influence society without consequences.

Daisley urged for immediate strengthening of the Online Safety Act 2023 to hold tech executives accountable for their actions and to prioritize democratic governance over the influence of tech billionaires.

He also suggested that views deemed harmful, such as those from individuals like Tommy Robinson, should be removed from platforms under the guidance of regulators like Ofcom.

Daisley concluded that the focus should be on upholding acceptable behavior on social media rather than prioritizing profits, especially when influential tech figures like Musk are involved.

He emphasized the possibility of holding tech billionaires accountable for the content allowed on their platforms and called for stricter measures to prevent abuse of power.

Source: www.theguardian.com