[coppolaemilio]

If you want your data to end up managed by the US you can use WhatsApp, if you want it to end up in Russia you can use Telegram. They are very similar in features, but I'm not a fan of Telegram storing all the conversation in their server.

[_cmmn]

Small correction.

With Telegram your data ends up in Germany.

They are Berlin based and against the current Russian government AFAIK.

[wruza]

They are ignorant to the point that I simply can't understand. Durov is in 'fuck you and die sooner' relation with russian goverment, but people still claim that Telegram is under their control. Right now we are at risk of losing Telegram if he will not provide server location info to FSB in few weeks, and it seems Durov is ready to lose russian market completely to protect it from these guys.

I actually trust whatsapp way less, simply because it has NO problems with russian special forces, which became very high-tech last years. This alone is a big red flag today.

[Grangar]

>Right now we are at risk of losing Telegram if he will not provide server location info to FSB in few weeks, and it seems Durov is ready to lose russian market completely to protect it from these guys

Do you have a source for this?

[wruza]

https://m.vk.com/wall1_677448

As for goverment intentions, I have no direct link, but those who simply ignored their demands were blocked. We wait and see what happens.

[la_oveja]

Telegram is not hosted in Russia. Moreover, Russia is not very happy with Telegram.

[ska80]

Russia may block Telegram: http://edesknews.com/users-of-telegram-told-about-the-risks-...

[dade_]

I don't want Facebook to have my conversations. I'm much less concerned about governments.

[samblr]

Do you believe that whatsapp is not storing your messages now ? They said they are not doing it to begin with but there are good reasons that they might be doing this. Fb and whatsapp have shared enough information to be fined by an EU court this week for 100 million euros. Although 've to agree that data with US is better than Russia.

[lordfosco]

Regarding "fined by the EU". They obviously transferred WhatsApp data to Facebook and vice versa. But I don't think that they necessarily store all of your WhatsApp messages somewhere in the cloud. Otherwise they could provide a similar easy, device independent solution like Telegram - instead of using the smartphone as a general pipe for all of the messages. So yeah...maybe they do and maybe they just don't want to tell us - but for now I am pretty confident that they would provide their user base with some kind of storing back end advantages.

[skinnymuch]

Telegram and Russia are not connected. Any quick look at the history of the app and Durov the founder will tell you that vs whatever bias you most likely hold.

[rkachowski]

whatsapp is end to end encrypted, no? at what point are the messages intercepted?

[cmarinas]

Well, search for "whatsapp mitm".

[FabHK]

That was more of a theoretical issue. And while some have named it a backdoor, the consensus among infosec experts (which I'm not) seems to be that it was a defensible and even sensible tradeoff of usability vs privacy (for the intended audience). If you want more privacy and less usability, use Signal.

[XJOKOLAT]

Honest comment. As a neutral (UK), it's a tough call as to which country I'd prefer in this scenario.

In terms of data, I imagine the US to be just as bad if not much worse (my prejudice) than Russia.

Someone can school me on this if I'm wrong but I prefer Telegram as a platform and I'm ambivalent as to which country my data ends up in (given this choice).

(Editing this comment based on above: "Small correction. With Telegram your data ends up in Germany. They are Berlin based and against the current Russian government")

[preavy]

You are wrong to be ambivalent. Russia is a vastly less free country than the United States.

For example, please see https://freedomhouse.org

[vkazanov]

This is an example of a US government funded org, just like oh-so-many others.

I agree with you to a certain extent but, please, this is a broken "proof".

[XJOKOLAT]

Thanks for the link, I don't doubt that. But I meant specifically on the point of data-handling. Some Russian hackers or spooks vs American hackers and the NSA, etc

The UK sucks just as bad. The current PM has just announced plans to regulate the web if they win the next election.

[preavy]

Why do you think data-handling is unrelated to the level of freedom in a country?

Please don't be so naive as to equate the UK and USA with Putin's Russia.

[XJOKOLAT]

I didn't say it was unrelated.

But given the light and dark elements to data operations within many countries, I'd imagine you might be the one possibly being naive.