Encrypted Chat App Telegram to Remove Terrorist Content Following Ban Threat in Indonesia

[MacRumors]

Telegram is to form a team of moderators to remove terrorist-related content from the encrypted messaging platform in Indonesia, after the country's government threatened to ban the app.

Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has already blocked access to the web version of the chat platform, citing concerns that it was being used to spread "radical and terrorist propaganda" in the country, according to Reuters.

"This has to be done because there are many channels on this service that are full of radical and terrorist propaganda, hatred, ways to make bombs, how to carry out attacks, disturbing images, which are all in conflict with Indonesian law," the communications ministry said in a statement on its website.

Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov said on Sunday that the service had blocked channels reported by the government and that it would take further action to remove the illegal content.

"We are forming a dedicated team of moderators with knowledge of Indonesian culture and language to be able to process reports of terrorist-related content more quickly and accurately," Durov said in a Telegram post quoted by Associated Press.

Telegram has been criticized by governments before for its use by terrorist groups to spread propaganda and recruit members. Last month Telegram agreed to provide basic information about the company to Russia after authorities threatened to block access to the service.

Despite pressure from governments, Telegram's founders have refused to bow to demands for backdoors into the platform for authorities to access encrypted messages, arguing that security and privacy are central tenets of the service.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Durov said Telegram is "heavily encrypted and privacy-oriented, but we're no friends of terrorists - in fact, every month we block thousands of ISIS-related public channels".

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Encrypted Chat App Telegram to Remove Terrorist Content Following Ban Threat in Indonesia

 

[You are the One]

Considering the history of NSA/CIA/FBI it's probably an intel-op from the beginning. Shady stuff.

 

[NachoGrande]

What's considered radical propaganda. Who decides. Slippery slope allowing government to dictate.

 

[einsteinbqat]

Oh this is a slippery slope. But is it end-to-end encrypted? If it is, how do they know the content?

 

[Telos101]

Oh this is a slippery slope. But is it end-to-end encrypted? If it is, how do they know the content?

This is just a guess, but I think some Telegram channels are public.

 

[itsmilo]

Whats the definition of terrorism though? For example Erdogan loves to claim that people with other opinions than his are terrorists

 

[justperry]

Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has already blocked access to the web version of the chat platform, citing concerns that it was being used to spread "radical and terrorist propaganda" in the country, according to Reuters.

"This has to be done because there are many channels on this service that are full of radical and terrorist propaganda, hatred, ways to make bombs, how to carry out attacks, disturbing images, which are all in conflict with Indonesian law," the communications ministry said in a statement on its website.

The main reason why they took action is the bolded part.
I lived there for many years, this is just a way to prevent sharing pictures with sexual content, like naked selfies.
Any picture without clothes is considered pornographic, even naked statues, or barely naked.
This in a way is odd since there are still many people in Indonesia which take a bath in a river.
Politics in Indonesia is retarded and backwards.
Example, a few years back (in East Java) they wanted to pass a law that women had to were a Chastity belt, reason, it prevents men to go to prostitutes, now, how backwards is that.

 

[trainwrecka]

What considered radical propaganda. Who decides. Slippery slope allowing government to dictate.

It's not a slippery slope if you have a standard of right and wrong you appeal to. It's only a slippery slope when the minds of men dictate what is right and wrong. That always leads to corruption and abuse of power.

 

[JosephAW]

How can they moderate this unless our conversations are not encrypted from end to end? Encryption = Smoke & Mirrors

 

[Kaibelf]

It's not a slippery slope if you have a standard of right and wrong you appeal to. It's only a slippery slope when the minds of men dictate what is right and wrong. That always leads to corruption and abuse of power.

What is right and wrong though? We’re the Founding Fathers terrorists? According to King George they certainly were. And why was that “wrong?” Because he was put in a throne “by God.”

Also, we've tried concocting standards of right and wrong before, and it hasn't gone very well. Sometimes what we consider "right" and "wrong" is totally alien to another culture. Like that time we invaded the Middle East and assumed everyone would jump for joy and suddenly the systems there would resemble something you'd see in Ohio. Family Guy did a good job mocking that with this short clip (starting at 1:29)

 

[MacBH928]

"How to make bombs"

I don't want the mentally unstable guy in my neighborhood to learn how to create bombs, but are we going to restrict knowledge now?
Isn't all science knowledge is free and must be accessed by the public as a right? Who decides who learns what?

 

[Rossatron]

"Your honor, my esteemed colleague has failed to prove what constitutes a bomb"

 

[theBostonian]

Why does Telegram care if their app is banned in Indonesia, they haven't monetised it so it shouldn't matter where it's blocked or not.

 

[harrisonw1998]

This is just a guess, but I think some Telegram channels are public.

Telegram channels can be made public so groups of people can receive read-only updates from certain groups. Telegram secret chats are encrypted end to end in the traditional way (keys held by sender/receiver only). Normal Telegram chats are encrypted in transit and on the server, but the keys are held by Telegram for features like search, cloud sync, etc. so they theoretically can access your messages, just like Facebook Messenger or others.

 

[Bawstun]

"How to make bombs"

I don't want the mentally unstable guy in my neighborhood to learn how to create bombs, but are we going to restrict knowledge now?
Isn't all science knowledge is free and must be accessed by the public as a right? Who decides who learns what?

Really? So you support a totally encrypted, inaccessible way for potential terrorists to share knowledge and plan future attacks? Because, freedom? Really?

 

[canadianreader]

Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country so when government try to ban terorrist content is not bad thing at all.

 

[MacBH928]

Really? So you support a totally encrypted, inaccessible way for potential terrorists to share knowledge and plan future attacks? Because, freedom? Really?

There is no "middle" encryption, its either encrypted or not encrypted. You make your choice, do you want every bit of information about you including email, chat history, pictures, comments, and videos available for everyone to see? Think about any career opportunities in the future you will have then don't be surprised by that one comment or chat history you had 20 years ago coming up to ruin your career.

Encrypted or not, terrorists can have multiple ways of communication and you can't stop it of which just encrypting a file and sending it over e-mail. Or use non-monitored internet communications like IRC, Usenet, PSN voice chats. You can even just burn information on a CD, put it in a Beyonce album cover, and send it by snail mail.