Privacy

Telegram – Signal – Smart TVs

The arrest, in France, of Pavel Durov, Telegram’s owner, for refusing to moderate (censor) content on Telegram shines a spotlight on the battle for freedom. While I applaud Pavel for standing up to the authorities, it gives a false impression that Telegram is a secure platform for messaging.

Telegram does have a feature to do a “secret chat” with one other contact, but this is a multi step process that probably few people actually do. (you can watch a YouTube video to teach you how to do this)

Telegram is very popular because it can function like a social media platform allowing broadcasting of information to 200,000 people in a single group. The flaw is that this group chat feature is not end to end encrypted. The messages are stored on Telegram’s servers and can be read by Telegram (and potentially compelled by the authorities to reveal the content – so it will be interesting to see how the case plays out against Pavel Durov - will he cave in?).

This is very different from Signal which provides end to end encryption by default (you don’t have to do anything). Signal’s group chats are also end to end encrypted. However Signal limits groups to 1,000 people (Signal individually encrypts each message to each person). Signal never stores any unencrypted messages on a server! Signal can not be forced to reveal your messages. Signal is unable to read them even if they wanted to cooperate with authorities.

Telegram is quite popular, however they do several things wrong. Including bad mouthing the other services by spreading rumors that the other services have “back doors”.

Even Signal can’t perfectly protect you, because the operating system of your cell phone ultimately is in control and could spy on you.

Most of us that are “awake”, are aware that we are surrounded by surveillance devices (like our cell phones). Clearly many of us accept that we are being spied on but we may not be aware of the extent of this spying.

Perhaps you are unaware that Cox Media Group has been promoting it’s ability to spy on people. Cox was caught promoting “Active Listening”. They removed their webpage about this but not before it had been archived:

https://web.archive.org/web/20231214235444/https://www.cmglocalsolutions.com/blog/active-listening-an-overview

“Imagine a world where you can read minds.

One where you know the second someone in your area is concerned about mold in their closet, where you have access to a list of leads who are unhappy with their current contractor, or know who is struggling to pick the perfect fine dining restaurant to propose to their discerning future fiancé.

This is a world where no pre-purchase murmurs go unanalyzed, and the whispers of consumers become a tool for you to target, retarget, and conquer your local market.

It's not a far-off fantasy-it's Active Listening technology, and it enables you to unlock unmatched advertising efficiency today so you can boast a bigger bottom line tomorrow.”

How do they do this? Well, they tell you: “By incorporating and analyzing customer data gleaned from conversations happening around smart devices, we can pinpoint where and when customers are most likely to engage with ads.”

The short version: yes, you are being listened to

Even though we’ve been told that our smart TV doesn’t spy on us, well, truth is that it does!

Just this weekend I also had an interesting experience. While having a conversation (that mentioned business) on Instagram with a friend, this message popped up:

Yes, it’s not surprising at all that Instagram (and Facebook) spy on us. We all knew that didn’t we?

George Orwell’s “1984” is right around the corner! The technology is here. The evil entities are using it. And they are expanding it’s reach (those vaccine passports, ah “digital travel IDs” in Europe… probably coming soon here in the USA).

There is no stopping the technology, but we still can fight to make it’s usage illegal.

Related note: there are creeps in the world (like the Telegram case where the authorities are going after people trafficking in child porn) but the solution is not censorship and surveillance! Just like gun control isn’t the solution to mentally ill people shooting two children and two teachers because he wanted to promote “trans rights”.

Human nature is human nature, the creeps and undesirables do exist, but we should not let their improper behavior destroy freedom for the rest of the population.

I’m very much in favor of the legal system of “innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt”. I’d rather see ten guilty people go free than a single innocent person be imprisoned.