[HN Gopher] Telegram: We abide by EU laws, including the Digital...
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       Telegram: We abide by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act
        
       Author : bpierre
       Score  : 74 points
       Date   : 2024-08-25 19:26 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (twitter.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (twitter.com)
        
       | aa_is_op wrote:
       | "It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are
       | responsible for abuse of that platform."
       | 
       | What an utter ridiculous and misleading statement from the
       | company that LITERALLY REFUSES to take down drug and malware
       | shops from its platform.
       | 
       | There's tens of academic studies that have looked at this problem
       | and many of them have Telegram as the worst offender.
       | 
       | Here's just one of the studies:
       | https://cyber.fsi.stanford.edu/io/news/addressing-distributi...
        
         | ronsor wrote:
         | Facebook is also full of drug and malware shops and
         | advertisements for such.
        
           | threeseed wrote:
           | Meta will take down those ads if reported.
           | 
           | What is important when it comes to regulators is not whether
           | you fail to comply or not. It is whether you take your
           | responsibility to comply seriously e.g. timely responses to
           | information requests, continuous process improvement etc.
        
             | cpncrunch wrote:
             | The Via Rail scam card ads have been on facebook for
             | months. You can figure out it's a scam with a 2 second
             | google search:
             | 
             | https://www.facebook.com/viarailcanada/posts/scam-warning-
             | av...
             | 
             | I reported it (like others in this thread), but facebook
             | said it didn't break any rules. I requested another review,
             | and they said the same thing, with no way for me to make
             | any comments or replies.
             | 
             | Perhaps they will remove certain ads if it's instantly
             | obvious that it is illegal, but overall they're pretty
             | terrible at moderation.
        
               | MattGaiser wrote:
               | For the VIA thing, I have legitimately earned VIA
               | Preference Points for surveys [0] and have heard of them
               | being offered as survey rewards at my alma mater of
               | Queen's University (where VIA use is pretty heavy).
               | 
               | [0] https://campaign.askingcanadians.com/faq/via
               | 
               | So I can see some of those offers being legitimate.
        
               | brookst wrote:
               | Meta being bad at following their policies is a different
               | problem than a platform whose policies say they won't
               | stop abuse. You can argue which problem is worse, but I
               | don't think it's reasonable to say that the world should
               | treat the two problems the same.
        
               | threeseed wrote:
               | The priority for regulators are money laundering,
               | sanctions evasion, terrorism, CSAM, trafficking etc.
               | 
               | Serious crimes where people's lives are at stake.
               | 
               | Scams in general are towards the bottom on everyone's
               | priority list.
        
               | meiraleal wrote:
               | Why are you changing the focus to regulators and not meta
               | moderation which is what you claimed that is done? (and
               | many proved in this thread that no they don't remove
               | content that breaks local laws).
        
               | threeseed wrote:
               | Because company behaviour is a reflection of the laws in
               | the places it operates.
        
             | mtlmtlmtlmtl wrote:
             | I regularly report scam ads as well as obvious catfishing
             | friend requests from obviously fake accounts whose only
             | post is a sketchy URL to some "sex chat". Almost all of the
             | reports are rejected.
             | 
             | It seems obvious to me that Meta's moderation is mostly
             | about pretending just enough for regulators to go away, and
             | no more. Hell, Meta probably indirectly makes money from
             | these scams by targeting more scams at the people who fall
             | for them, at a premium. Meta makes money, scammers make
             | money, regulators are content. It's a win-win-win.
        
             | meiraleal wrote:
             | No they won't. I report all the time and every one of them
             | they told me they reviewed it and disagree the ads/posts
             | are against the law.
        
             | peoplefromibiza wrote:
             | like they did with Cambridge Analytica I guess...
        
           | amelius wrote:
           | Does that justify it then?
        
             | spwa4 wrote:
             | It shows what the EU action is about. It's not about
             | telegram's supposed crimes, whatever you think they are,
             | because other platforms are full of the same crimes.
             | 
             | The difference is that other platforms give EU states
             | access to people's private messages. If you go into the
             | technicalities of what EXACTLY this means, it started with
             | a list of 27 organizations that got blanket access, without
             | judicial oversight (because all of the different rules from
             | the member states apply. Some do not require judicial
             | oversight). Organized long ago by Interpol. It grew from
             | there, exactly as people expected.
             | 
             | Oh and in case you're wondering. This already exists. It is
             | NOT about the new EU directive ("directive 92"). This is
             | about delivering specific individual's messages, when
             | specifically asked to, and maybe blocking them.
        
               | tpm wrote:
               | Which EU action? France which arrested Durov is not the
               | EU. The EU can't arrest anyone, only the member states
               | can. Durov was not arrested because of the EU DSA.
        
           | DragonStrength wrote:
           | Yep, and I think we're way too soft on Meta for what they
           | push and profit from on FB and Instagram.
        
         | heraldgeezer wrote:
         | Instagram and Snapchat is full of illegal shit.
        
         | asqueella wrote:
         | What's the source for your "LITERALLY REFUSES" claim?
         | 
         | The study you linked names instagram as "the most important
         | platform"...
        
         | miohtama wrote:
         | Telegram does not refuse take down content. I have reported
         | scams, phishing, selling stolen credit cards and such to
         | Telegram and they have all taken down. Maybe not in 24h, but
         | still taken down.
         | 
         | Also from your study: "Our investigation finds that large
         | networks of accounts, purportedly operated by minors, are
         | openly advertising SG-CSAM for sale on social media. Instagram
         | has emerged as the primary platform for such networks,
         | providing features that facilitate connections between buyers
         | and sellers. Instagram's popularity and user-friendly interface
         | make it a preferred option for these activities."
        
       | amelius wrote:
       | Can't the EU make their own messaging app?
        
         | ben_w wrote:
         | They did it's called Skype it got bought.
         | 
         | Also, what's that supposed to even solve?
        
           | throwaway48540 wrote:
           | They could put more people in prison.
        
         | Timber-6539 wrote:
         | Their "censorship czar" tried to hype up some app as a "safer
         | alternative" to X on one of Elon's tweets. Can't remember the
         | app's name.
        
         | hnhg wrote:
         | There was/is also Wire: https://wire.com/en
        
         | tptacek wrote:
         | Wasn't Matrix in the running for this? And Threema is the
         | standard in Switzerland, I believe.
        
           | rad_gruchalski wrote:
           | Well, Matrix is incorporated in the UK, not a member state of
           | the EU, and Switzerland also isn't a member state of the EU.
        
             | kitkat_new wrote:
             | well, when Matrix was founded, UK was still part of the EU
        
         | Gravityloss wrote:
         | IIRC France sponsored open source secure messaging platforms
         | 
         | There are things like this:
         | https://matrix.org/ecosystem/clients/
        
         | heraldgeezer wrote:
         | Maybe they dont need to
         | 
         | >The European Commission has told its staff to start using
         | Signal, an end-to-end-encrypted messaging app, in a push to
         | increase the security of its communications.
         | 
         | https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-commission-to-staff-switc...
        
         | vindex10 wrote:
         | I think this recent thread shows a good example, why it might
         | be difficult to implement in EU:
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41348659
        
         | miohtama wrote:
         | We literally can't, because startups are regulated out of
         | existence in the EU.
        
       | ben_w wrote:
       | > It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are
       | responsible for abuse of that platform
       | 
       | As the law places certain responsibilities onto platforms, if you
       | (any platform not just Telegram) say this kind of thing, are you
       | sure you're following the law right, or are you just saying the
       | law is wrong and bad?
        
         | MuffinFlavored wrote:
         | > > It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are
         | responsible for abuse of that platform
         | 
         | Didn't some crypto mixer coin network creator just get found
         | guilty for this?
        
         | stefan_ wrote:
         | Not a good start if they start shouting about the Digital
         | Services Act, which of course has nothing to do with their CEO
         | being arrested at an airport.
        
       | Timber-6539 wrote:
       | The more the French authorities delay in releasing official
       | information about Durov's arrest, the worse it looks for them.
       | 
       | I mean the West has always accused the East of employing similar
       | tactics wrt arresting journalists/freedom fighters etc, how do we
       | not see the irony here...
        
         | euroderf wrote:
         | Your point is valid. We cannot reason about events based on
         | intentions. We must reason based on capabilities, and on
         | actions.
        
         | Muromec wrote:
         | But he is not journalist, neither he is a freedom fighter
        
       | jdasdf wrote:
       | They shouldn't.
        
       | fredgrott wrote:
       | hmm gee setting up shell companies to avoid government subpoenas
       | probably is not good at collaborating that narrative.
        
       | jMyles wrote:
       | At some point, the adults in the room (and specifically, a few
       | brave and seasoned elder statesmen/women) need to stand up and
       | state the obvious:
       | 
       | On sufficiently long time scales, the internet will not tolerate
       | states, and states will not be able to withstand the influence of
       | the internet.
       | 
       | The ability to copy and send bytes around the world, to capture
       | and disseminate media in such a way that forces transparency, but
       | also to facilitate and democratize private conversation, to route
       | around censorship... these are qualities that make what are today
       | fundamental aspects of statecraft, such as state secrets,
       | intellectual property, control over money supply and trade,
       | surveillance, and censorship, impossible.
       | 
       | It's time to acknowledge that we need to transition our methods
       | for ensuring each other's safety, well-being, freedom, justice,
       | and prosperity via stateless channels and stop regarding states
       | as having any jurisdiction over the internet.
        
         | mgaunard wrote:
         | Sounds like anti-statist propaganda.
        
         | wmf wrote:
         | Basically Barlow's Declaration of the Independence of
         | Cyberspace from the 1990s. I think history has shown it to be
         | more wrong than right.
        
         | greenthrow wrote:
         | You are delusional my dude. Servers and routers exist in
         | meatspace. The meatspace laws win out.
        
         | peoplefromibiza wrote:
         | the only problem in your manifesto is that no internet can
         | exist without connectivity.
         | 
         |  _He who controls the cables controls the (cyber)universe_
        
         | grujicd wrote:
         | If anything states are much more involved in policing internet
         | than 20 years ago. As more and more stuff goes online, I don't
         | see governments reversing this trend, quite the oposite.
        
         | ben_w wrote:
         | > On sufficiently long time scales, the internet will not
         | tolerate states, and states will not be able to withstand the
         | influence of the internet
         | 
         | To the extent that this is correct, it means states cannot
         | tolerate the internet, and will transition to not using or
         | allowing it.
         | 
         | > these are qualities that make what are today fundamental
         | aspects of statecraft, such as state secrets, intellectual
         | property, control over money supply and trade, surveillance,
         | and censorship, impossible.
         | 
         | State secrets are primarily voided by cheap surveillance, e.g.
         | that a laser microphone is now a high school project.
         | 
         | IP is covered by international agreements, though may be voided
         | by AI.
         | 
         | Control over money is done by requiring residents pay taxes in
         | whichever currency, nothing about the internet changes that.
         | 
         | Supply and trade correspond to people with guns on the borders,
         | that's only going to change with personal nanoscale 3D printing
         | and delivery by orbital bombardment, not the internet.
         | 
         | Surveillance is likely to get much more prevalent rather than
         | become impossible, e.g. aforementioned laser microphones.
         | 
         | Censorship might become impossible. Or perhaps we'll find new
         | ways to do it. Jamming works by increasing the noise so you
         | can't get a signal, GenAI may do that easily.
        
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       (page generated 2024-08-25 23:00 UTC)