"I’ve spent the past few days talking with sources who work on and study tech policy and international law, along with those who are fighting the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on digital platforms. Today let’s try to answer three big questions from the arrest: Why was Durov arrested? Why is Telegram under investigation? And what does France’s move here portend for platforms more generally?"
How Telegram played itsef
https://www.platformer.news/telegram-durov-arrest-france-explainer/
"Building platforms responsibly means reaching compromises with law enforcement agencies that allow for the investigation of serious crimes while protecting users’ privacy to the greatest extent possible. It’s a difficult, expensive dance, and when it’s working right neither the platforms or the law enforcement agencies are satisfied with the outcome"
this isn't about "free speech" either its about accountability if a high percentage of your platform is only using it to commit crimes then you should be held accountable if you refuse to help law enforcement - hiding behind "free speech" & "freedom of expression" doesn't cut the mustard
Again don't get that twisted with what some governments are trying, and have been trying, for years breaking encryption in the name of "saving the children"
Update: #Telegram
Telegram boss and founder Pavel Durov has been placed under formal investigation in France as part of a probe into organised crime on the messaging app, Paris prosecutors say. - The Russian-born billionaire, who is also a French national, also has to show up at a French police station twice a week and is not allowed to leave French territory.
Telegram repeatedly refuses to join child protection schemes - The app is not a member of either the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) or the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) - both of which work with most online platforms to find, report and remove such material.
Yeah this guy only has himself to blame IMO letting your platform be a wild west these days doesn't cut it - especially when it comes down to helping scum share images of kids - something the "free speech" fuckwits don't mention when defending this guy the same fuckwits who scream about "saving the children" as well
Go figure huh....
"By not being an active part of IWF or NCMEC, Telegram is not able to proactively find, remove or block confirmed CSAM which is categorised and added to lists compiled by the charities
Telegram is also not a part of the TakeItDown programme that works to remove so-called revenge porn"
https://counter.social/@ecksmc/111838127111236633
Report Remove is another service (UK)
@ecksmc Not like these systems are hard to implement either. In most cases, they're not doing visual identification or ML approaches that might lead to privacy issues. They're literally comparing file hashes.
@FreedomATX exactly
And for a platform with that many users its an essential thing to implement and more important its morally the right thing to do - won't stop the problem sadly but by not implementing it its leading to more of they images being shared and the people sharing them know they are safe to do so
@ecksmc I prefer a deterrence strategy for dealing with the worst, absolute most heinous crimes:
Innocent until proven guilty, meaning no mass surveillance and no need to compromise platforms - targeted physical measures can be taken (with a proper warrant) instead once a suspect is identified. When truly, unambiguously proven guilty of something truly horrific...
Well, make an example of them. Slowly, excruciatingly, and most importantly publicly - until there is nothing left.
@IrelandTorin telegram just refuse to do any cooperation when asked - telegram has a long history of refusing - and that's what set this ball rolling a person was arrested for child porn and then telegram was identified as the platform of choice for sharing content
To me this CEO only has himself to blame and hiding behind free speech & freedom of expression is bullshit cause now that's become the story NOT that they, telegram, refused to help prosecute a pedophile by handing over data
@ecksmc Ah, I see.
They didn't even have true end-to-end encryption, and Telegram themselves had the *ability* to access the data, they just refused to.
That's a completely different ball game than "it's all end-to-end encrypted, sorry, we can't access it".
Yeah, if there's an active investigation into someone for an actual crime (ie not political BS like a charge for criticizing the king of Thailand), they have a legit warrant, & the company can access the data... they should cooperate.
@IrelandTorin exactly it was a valid request
the story has changed to "we have to defend free speech" from the same people who shout the loudest "we have to protect our children" friggin eejits they are what they should be saying is "we don't care about the children we just use anything to push our narrative & agenda even if that means we are in fact protecting someone accused if spreading child porn around"
Calling them halfwits is an insult to halfwits
@ecksmc Seems to me they *like* extremists and pedophiles.
At this point... I swear if there's anyone who's intelligent/self-aware and not genuinely a narcissist or psychopath (nor following one) among those types, they'd most likely have to be awful misanthropes who hate other people & not-so-secretly want to maximize the amount of suffering, exploitation, & death in the world.
I suspect there'd be far fewer of them if our societal systems didn't strongly reward virulent, vicious selfishness.
Well, hum, ERM..... Maybe if platform owners took a more proactive measure in ensuring pedos, criminals & bad actors didn't get a "foot-hold" to operate on their platforms they platform owners & law enforcement might actually benefit each other it wouldn't be so expensive
I'm not into "breaking encryption" like some countries wanna do - that said i think though its about time platform owners were held accountable for content shared, child porn, and crimes committed by users of platforms