• What does it mean to ban mobile messenger? Encrypt correctly! Choose a messenger for secure and private correspondence. What problems are possible

    Roskomnadzor included the messengers BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), LINE, Imo.im and the audiovisual chat Vchat into the register of prohibited sites, Roskomsvoboda reported. The register includes the portals of these messengers and a number of their IP addresses.

    In Russia, access not only to the websites of these messengers will be limited, but also to their applications - they will be removed from application stores or blocked by telecom operators, Roskomnadzor representative Vadim Ampelonsky said.

    Blocking a mobile application along with a resource website is not a difficult task, says a person close to one of the operators; as a rule, modern applications access specific resources, blocking which results in blocking applications as well. The regulator has experience in excluding blocked resources from Google and Apple stores. In January, the AppStore and Google Play removed the blocked LinkedIn application from their Russian stores.

    The law obliges organizers of the dissemination of information (including messengers) to provide, at the request of Roskomnadzor, their contact information necessary for inclusion in the appropriate register, explains Ampelonsky: “Those who do not respond find themselves blocked - in full accordance with the law.” To be included in the list of information organizers, the regulator asks the company to provide data about itself (not about users), says Ampelonsky, but does not disclose what kind of data this is.

    From the moment the request is received, the company has five days to respond, he continues; if no response is received, the department sends a notice of failure to fulfill the duties of the organizer of information dissemination, and the company is given 15 days to correct it. Next comes the blocking. Ampelonsky did not say what other messengers Roskomnadzor used.

    Amendments to the law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” from January 1, 2017 oblige organizers of the dissemination of information on the Internet to store information on the facts of reception, transmission, delivery and (or) processing of voice information, written text, images on the territory of the Russian Federation , sounds, videos or other electronic messages from users and information about these users for a year, and the content itself - up to six months. Services are also required to provide this content at the request of federal executive authorities and provide them with the ability to decode information.

    Roskomnadzor was the first to block the short voice messaging application Zello in April. The company also did not provide information for inclusion in the register on time.

    Blocked messengers are not among the popular ones in Russia (see chart). It is possible that this indicative inclusion in the register of messengers that are not the most popular in Russia, but well-known in the world, is necessary in order to force the more popular and intractable ones among the Russian audience, primarily Telegram, to cooperate, says the head of Roskomsvoboda, Artem Kozlyuk. Telegram owner Pavel Durov has repeatedly stated that he has not collaborated and does not intend to cooperate with the intelligence services of either Russia or other countries. “But we will know about this only after this messenger is included in one of two registers: organizers of information dissemination with all the attendant responsibilities for collecting user data and providing it to the competent authorities, or in the register of prohibited sites - for blocking. For now, apparently, the regulators are deciding how to put pressure on Pavel,” says Kozlyuk.

    Roskomnadzor decided to add BlackBerry, Imo, Line messengers and Vchat video chat to the list of sites banned in Russia. While application sites are available

    Photo: Shizuo Kambayashi/AP

    Roskomnadzor added the BlackBerry, Imo, Line messengers and Vchat video chat to the register of prohibited sites. Department press secretary Vadim Ampelonsky told RIA Novosti about this.

    He explained that Roskomnadzor, together with law enforcement agencies, “is systematically filling out the register of organizers of information dissemination.”

    Earlier, the Roskomsvoboda organization drew attention to the inclusion of messenger sites in the register. This list contains some application IP addresses and their websites. As of 15:44 on May 2, the portals of all four messengers were opening.

    Roskomsvoboda suggests that the inclusion of instant messengers in the register is due to the fact that their owners refused to provide user data in accordance with the Law “On Personal Data”. RBC sent a request to Roskomnadzor for an explanation of the reason for the blocking.

    BlackBerry Messenger was created in August 2005. The application is available not only on BlackBerry phones, but also on smartphones with Android, iOS or Windows operating systems. The messenger's website states that the application has been downloaded more than 100 million times.

    In mid-April, which was popular among truckers and activists. The agency explained its decision by saying that the owner of the service, the American Zello Inc., did not provide the Russian authorities with data on time for inclusion in the register of information dissemination organizers (ORI).

    The company itself called the department's demands absurd. Zello Russia Operations Director Veronika Zaslavskaya told RBC that about 400 thousand people used this application in Russia.

    Image caption Not all messengers cooperate with Russian intelligence services, but this puts them at risk of being blocked

    The Russian government has prohibited Internet messengers from disclosing any information about interaction with intelligence services. Users of instant messengers that comply with Russian law will never know how often these services satisfy the curiosity of the FSB.

    Administrations of instant messengers (in the current law they are called organizers of the dissemination of information on the Internet, ORI) must ensure “non-disclosure of any information about specific facts and the content of such interaction to third parties,” follows from the text of the government decree of January 18. The document was published on the official legal information portal on Monday, January 22.

    To transfer user data to intelligence services, messengers must install special software and hardware. Which ones exactly are not specified. By its decree, the Russian government prohibited the placement of these funds outside the country.

    The resolution directly concerns instant messengers that are registered in the Roskomnadzor ARI register. These include Telegram, Agent Mail.ru, Chinese WeChat, Russian social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki.

    It is forbidden to be transparent

    International IT companies report intelligence agency calls in transparency reports published twice a year. Thus, the latest Facebook report refers to the second half of 2016, the reports from Google, Twitter and Microsoft - to the first half of 2017. Russian social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki do not publish transparency reports and refuse to provide them upon request.

    The government has not determined the punishment for disclosing information about interaction with the special services, notes Daryana Gryaznova, a lawyer for the human rights group Team 29.

    “If ORI refuses to comply with these requirements, there are formally no charges under which one can hold him accountable - the Administrative Code establishes liability for the disclosure of information, access to which is limited by federal law, as well as for failure to fulfill the obligations assigned by federal law (and here by-law act),” notes the lawyer.

    Gryaznova reminds that in accordance with the law on operational-search activities, information about forces, means, sources, methods, plans and results of such activities is a state secret.

    “There is only one point - if the internal affairs bodies, the Federal Security Service and other bodies that carry out operational investigative activities decide to read your correspondence, they will do so, and now they want to force representatives of the messengers not to tell anyone about this,” the lawyer sums up.

    The government decree completely closes the transparency of law enforcement and any public control, says Sarkis Darbinyan, partner of the Center for Digital Rights, lawyer in the field of cyber law.

    "Projects such as Ranking Digital Rights examine the reports of large IT companies and rank them based on the level of transparency. Judging by the position of the government, the work of such projects in Russia will be impossible, and the entire process will take place behind closed doors. This can be extremely bad affect the digital rights of Russian users,” the expert believes.

    Messengers are obliged...

    The Russian law on messengers came into force on January 1, 2018. According to it, messengers are required to identify users by phone number.

    The law obliges instant messengers to ensure the possibility of sending electronic messages at the initiative of the authorities, as well as to limit the transmission of messages that contain “illegal information.” If the messenger fails to comply with these requirements, the law allows telecom operators to block access to the service by court decision.

    For violations of the law, instant messengers may be subject to a fine of up to 1 million rubles.

    From January 1, 2018, new rules for using instant messengers will come into effect. All users will be required to provide their mobile phone number when registering and using any programs that have the ability to exchange messages. These are the requirements of the Federal Law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection”. The initiators of the amendments were deputies of three factions at once - “United Russia”, “A Just Russia” and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

    According to these changes, messengers will now have to:

    · Identify your users (that is, actually prohibit anonymous users from using services)

    · Distribute socially important information as decided by authorities

    Our main goal is to protect citizens, taking into account the current situation,” says Marina Mukabenova, State Duma deputy from United Russia. – Terrorist groups can appear in such messengers and spam attacks can be carried out.

    Messengers will have to block messages advertising terrorism, drugs and child pornography. And at the request of the authorities, disseminate socially significant information, for example, reports from the Ministry of Emergency Situations about emergency weather deterioration.

    What will change for users

    Now you can register for services using your email address. That is, virtually impersonal. But many messengers have already introduced authorization via SMS. From time to time, companies check whether the user has changed their phone number - the user is asked to enter their current number. After which he receives an SMS with a confirmation code or link. From January 1, this authorization will become the rule for everyone.

    Only users identified on the basis of a subscriber number and the corresponding agreement will be able to transmit instant messages, explained Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika.

    Why does the state need this? To obtain upon request the personal data of a user against whom, for example, an investigation is being conducted.

    What problems are possible

    1. “Messenger” is a vague concept. Technically, this definition – “information and communication service” – includes not only Telegram and others, but also chats on websites (for example, with an online consultant) and in games. It seems that Roskomnadzor will decide who is subject to the ban; according to its instructions, companies will have to bring their services into compliance with the new requirements.

    2. The SIM card can be issued to "left" people.

    A lot of SIM cards are sold “on the black,” Roman Romachev, general director of the business intelligence agency R-Techno, gives an example. - In any market you can buy a phone number that is registered to a legal entity. And the police are not really fighting this yet. This business must be stopped, otherwise terrorists will circumvent the ban.

    In addition, scammers can also use “dead souls” - issue a SIM card for a person who will never use it (for example, a lonely old woman in the outback or a homeless person).

    3. Should I change my account when moving?

    Even legal users may have problems.

    Linking to a telephone number is a rudiment, says Biolink CEO Evgeniy Chereshnev. - Firstly, the number is tied to the region - and this means additional problems with identification when moving. Secondly, there is no point in using popular instant messengers for real criminals - anyone can create their own chat (meaning their own messenger - Ed.) using open source technologies. Thirdly, it is not known what to do for foreigners who do not have Russian SIM cards and whose data is unknown to our operators. There is also a problem with number termination, when a number is not used for a long time and is transferred to a new owner. Having purchased a new SIM card, the owner can receive along with it the entire load of accounts registered for it. That’s why such dark situations arise when, for example, a person who has already died “lights up” online in the messenger.

    4. You can make a “dummy” number.

    Today there are many services that allow you to create virtual phone numbers. You can even create a number for just 10 minutes, after which it will be destroyed. But this time is enough for any attackers to send many messages.

    It is possible, of course, to oblige these services to report to the state and transfer all data about each user. What if these are not Russian companies? A lot of additional difficulties arise here.

    5. This is not a panacea for drug dealers and terrorists.

    The messengers themselves, for example, Viber and Telegram, cannot read user correspondence and track whether there is anything about drugs and terrorism.

    There are two modes of communication: regular chats that use client-server encryption, and secret chats that use end-to-end encryption and are protected from man-in-the-middle attacks, Telegram explains. – In regular chats, messages are encrypted on the sender’s side, pass through the server encrypted, and are decrypted on the recipient’s side. That is, Telegram specialists see that two people are communicating, but do not know what these messages are about. In secret chat mode, there is an additional option - visual keys that display encryption codes. Users can compare them and make sure that no one has intercepted their correspondence. In such chats, messages cannot be forwarded; they are stored only on the devices themselves, and are deleted from them after a certain time.

    Who will be punished and how?

    Fine for individuals - from 3 to 5 thousand rubles

    Officials – from 30 to 50 thousand

    For legal entities - from 800 thousand to 1 million rubles.

    Messengers can be blocked - temporarily, until the violations are eliminated, or “for life”.

    But it makes no sense for large services to change encryption algorithms for the sake of Russian users. According to experts, the Russian audience of the same WhatsApp is no more than 2%. So it may be easier for companies to leave the Russian market than to change code and equipment for the sake of legislative delights.

    TOLD

    “Telegram’s level of cooperation with the authorities does not depend on jurisdiction and is based on the same principles everywhere. Unlike their Russian counterparts, Indonesian government services did not require us to have access to personal correspondence.

    All over the world, including Russia, Telegram processes requests to remove publicly available illegal content containing terrorist propaganda, child pornography, etc. However, in no country do we disclose personal data of users to government agencies.

    Although a significant share of Telegram's audience comes from more conservative countries than Russia, only in Russia has Telegram been fined for failing to provide message encryption keys. This is the only such precedent in the 4 years of Telegram’s operation in the global market."

    WHAT’S IT ABOUT THEM?

    Mandatory identification works in other countries around the world. For example, in China, users of local microblogs are required to indicate their government identification numbers when registering. International services, such as Facebook or WhatsApp, are formally prohibited, but work there only through anonymizer applications. But since June 2017, a law came into force in China that prohibits them too.

    There is a similar ban on anonymity on the Internet in Sweden. The local government introduced it back in 2011.

    But the USA and Germany, on the contrary, defend the right to anonymity - at the level of judicial proceedings.

    BY THE WAY

    The head of Roskomnadzor said that anonymity on the Internet does not exist

    The head of Roskomnadzor, Alexander Zharov, said that there is no anonymity on the Internet. According to him, modern technologies make it possible to determine a person by various direct and indirect identifiers: voice, face, online behavior, regularly visited resources and geolocation ()

    Rosreestr blocking: complete list of blocked messengers

    Several messengers have already been banned by Roskomnadzor. What and why - you will learn from this article.

    Rumors that the government is going to ban instant messengers have been circulating for a long time. And partly the information is confirmed: systematic blocking began in the spring of this year. However, these “repressions” are not as global as they might seem. A small number of programs fell under them, and even those have the opportunity to “rehabilitate themselves.”

    List of messengers blocked by Roskomnadzor

    Let's list the messengers prohibited in Russia:

    • BlackBerry Messenger. Cross-platform application with a large subscriber base and wide functionality. Very similar to Viber, which also has the ability to create group chats: https://o-viber.ru/kak-sozdat-gruppu-v-vajbere.html.
    • Imo. Initially - a web service, then mobile and desktop versions were released. Two types of accounts: regular and business. Encrypted connection, third party protocols were disabled in 2014.
    • Vchat. Audiovisual chat.
    • Zello. Application - walkie-talkie. Communication is possible privately or through open channels. Cross-platform, including desktop versions. Russian audience - about 400 thousand people.

    There are also instant messengers banned in the Russian Federation, but then unblocked: WeChat is a cross-platform program owned by a Chinese company, but popular all over the world, including the Russian Federation; Line is a very popular (about 1 billion downloads) messenger with a built-in social network. Property of Naver Corporation, South Korea.

    What are the reasons for application bans?

    Any means of communication is a potential tool for fraud of varying degrees, broadcasting calls for illegal actions or extremist content. For example, during the protest wave in Turkey (2013), dissatisfied citizens actively used Zello as a means of transmitting prohibited information bypassing censorship.

    In this regard, the need arose: to exclude the anonymous use of programs used for exchanging text, voice and video messages; protecting the user’s right not to receive information from unwanted sources; securing the right of the Russian government to use messengers as a means of notification in case of emergencies, etc.

    The essence of the law

    This is a bill that imposes certain obligations on messengers in relation to the government of the Russian Federation, and also regulates the activities of such programs. Key points:

    • Mandatory user identification. Registration in the application must be carried out indicating a telephone number, which becomes the person’s identifier. The provision is based on the fact that when buying a SIM card, we transfer our personal (passport) data to the telecom operator. The operator, in turn, according to a pre-concluded agreement, provides information to the messenger.
    • The ability for users to block unwanted contacts. We are talking about a ban on incoming calls and messages.
    • Providing the Russian authorities with the opportunity to send mailings through the messenger: warnings regarding emergencies.
    • Preventing the spread of illegal information using the application.

    The companies that own instant messengers have only a few months left (until January 1, 2018) to bring the applications into compliance with the requirements stated in the bill. And which messengers were banned in Russia, Roskomnadzor can restore, but also after making changes.

    Read more: