Archaic Crypto Law charges against Telegram revealed French Intel’s Access to Private Communications! The Durov saga in France and the continued efforts by countries around the world to crack down on his popular cloud-based backfired/
The end-to-end encrypted private messenger and social media software has divulged a string of embarrassing details about the sorry state of internet privacy and freedom of information.
Two of the six charges facing Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France are grounded an obscure, never-used twenty-year-old law obliging companies providing cryptography tools to inform the French Cybersecurity Agency (French acronym ANSSI).
This 2004 law grants France access to the software’s source code and a description of [its] technical characteristics.
The 2004 law – uniquely blunt in its demand that companies divulge info about the tech tools used for private communications, is being used against Durov by accusing him of providing encrypted communications services without certified declaration.
The legal requirement also means, if it is applied evenly across the board, that the array of instant messengers available to French users, from WhatsApp and Signal to iMessage and the French-made Olvid ‘secure’ messenger used by the French government, do comply with ANSSI regulations.
Meaning French intelligence can potentially spy on any or all French users at any time.
Adding credence to this idea is the fact that Pavel Durov is reportedly the first-ever tech mogul to be charged under the 2004 law.
The fact that many big-name tech companies have been silent on the Durov case, with the exception of Proton CEO Andy Yen, who characterized the charges against the Russian-born tech mogul as economic suicide, this is rapidly and permanently changing the perception of founders and investors toward France.
If sustained, I don’t see how tech founders could possibly travel to France, much less hire in France, Yen wrote last week.
The law is also reminiscent of the case against WikiLeaks cofounder Julian Assange, who was threatened with decades of jail time by the USA under the obscure Espionage Act of 1917, even though that he was not an American citizen, and a publisher, not a spy.
Former president Donald Trump was charged under the same act in his classified documents case, which got thrown out by a judge in July, 2024.
Sputnik / ABC Flash Point News 2024.
We all live in a big lie in order to use our tax money for business purposes.
But in the UK some are more privileged than others and offshore their money avoiding UK taxes.
The UK via GCHQ is totally spied on – emails- cellnet phones -every form of communication goes through them but I don’t hide in some corner I constantly speak out against injustice – as I am not rich I have only my life to lose and I don’t value that.
I did join Proton emails etc years ago -not perfect but 95 % perfect which in this day and age is as good as it gets.