Millions of Amazon and Google IPs allegedly blocked in botched attempt to ban privacy messenger.

The Telegram messaging app was banned in Russia last week due to its refusal to turn over encryption keys to authorities. 

Russia’s internet watchdog, Roskomnadzor, is accused of using using brute force internet blocking methods to try and enforce a Russian court endorsed ban of Telegram. The State agency has blocked an estimated 16m IP addresses in a massive operation against the app and has set a new precedent for Russian online censorship.

Roskomnadzor has been given the job of obtaining encryption keys for all web services in the country and enforcing subsequent blocks. The Roskomnadzor head, Aleksandr Zharov, told independent Russian business outlet the “Bell” that the degradation of the Telegram app’s effective network by “30%”.

 

Political use

Ironically, according to the Guardian Newspaper, the Telegram App is widely used by the Russian political establishment, and several well known politicians and officials have criticized the ban and its implications. Data from Telegram themselves proved this with several Kremlin officials apparently still signed in and listed as being online within Russia on Tuesday evening, four days after the service was banned over alleged “terrorism concerns”.

Tech entrepreneur

Pavel Durov, the tech entrepreneur who created Telegram, and is himself a Russian, said the ban on Telegram’s current operations had been minimal, saying that “Telegram will use built-in methods to bypass the block, which do not require additional steps from users… Despite the ban, we haven’t seen a significant drop in user engagement so far, since Russians tend to bypass the ban with VPNs and proxies”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Durov now lives outside Russia.

Still getting through

According to Gizmodo, the site sent messages via Telegram a select number of people in Moscow who all confirmed that Telegram was working for them without the need of a VPN.

Telegram’s attorneys are attempting to have the ban overturned, citing as part of their argument, that Telegram has no encryption keys to hand over, even if it wanted to.

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Related stories:

Russian Government Tries To Ban Telegram Encrypted Privacy App.

Telegram App Takes Down Suspected Terror Communications.

Nearly 5 Million People Download Telegram as Whatsapp Alternative.