Russia Orders Messaging Apps To Hide Cooperation With Law Enforcement

According to an article in the Moscow Times: Messaging services in Russia have been banned from disclosing any cooperation with law enforcement agencies, according to a new government decree.

A 2015 law requires internet companies to store Russian citizens’ personal data on local servers accessible to local law enforcement. Over the past year, the popular Telegram messaging app has been embroiled in a legal battle with Russia's Federal Security Services (FSB) over refusing to provide access to the online conversations of users, including suspected terrorists.

The new decree orders messengers to ensure the non-disclosure of any information regarding specific facts and contents" when cooperating with the authorities.

The messengers are also required to provide remote access to their systems no later than three months after receiving a request from the FSB.

Last year, Telegram appealed to the UN  to intervene in its legal battle with the FSB over online privacy rights.  Telegram's founder, Pavel Durov, has previously said that the FSB's demands violate the constitutional rights of Russian citizens to the privacy of correspondence.

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I respect Telegram for standing up for the privacy rights of Russian citizens (and all users of Telegram), much as Apple did in the United States when faced with demands from the FBI to create a backdoor to defeat the encryption on iPhones.

Telegram, has a feature called "Secret Chats" which increases the security of your communications by providing end-to-end encryption. The Telegram FAQ page says:

"Secret chats are meant for people who want more secrecy than the average fella. All messages in secret chats use end-to-end encryption. This means only you and the recipient can read those messages - nobody else can decipher them, including us here at Telegram (more on this here). On top of this, Messages cannot be forwarded from secret chats. And when you delete messages on your side of the conversation, the app on the other side of the secret chat will be ordered to delete them as well.

You can order your messages, photos, videos and files to self-destruct in a set amount of time after they have been read or opened by the recipient. The message will then disappear from both your and your friend's devices.

All secret chats in Telegram are device-specific and are not part of the Telegram cloud. This means you can only access messages in a secret chat from their device of origin. They are safe for as long as your device is safe in your pocket."

You can download Telegram here: https://telegram.org