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by codedokode 2855 days ago
Signal or Keybase are not blocked in Russia. I suppose that is because they don't have many users like Telegram. WhatsApp is known to comply with Russian legislation (and ironically several of its addresses were accidentally blocked while trying to disrupt Telegram service).
2 comments
jes 2855 days ago
Can you and would you say more about how WhatsApp accommodates Russian legislation?
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codedokode 2855 days ago
I rechecked information and probably I was wrong. In Russia there is an official registry of companies and websites which are "distributors of information" and WhatsApp is not there. The companies in the registry are required by law to retain information about users at least for 6 months and provide it to authorities in some cases. Telegram is added to the registry.

In case anyone is curious to see what sites are interesting to the authorities, here is a copy of the registry in Russian [1] and a machine-translated version [2].

The first ones added to the registry in 2014 were a dating website (mamba), Russian social network VK, email services (Yandex and Mail.ru) and IT news websites Habrahabr and Roem. Probably developers and sysadmins are considered dangerous people so they need supervision.

Also there is a website snap.com operated by Snap Inc.

[1] https://reestr.rublacklist.net/distributors/

[2] https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=y&prev...

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varjag 2855 days ago
It renders user metadata and contact lists on request.
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jammygit 2855 days ago
How does Telegram differ from Signal from an end-user point of view?
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codedokode 2855 days ago
I haven't used Signal, so I don't know much about it. I know that Telegram has native clients for multiple platforms (real apps, not HTML/JS apps). For example, its Windows client is written in Qt and works on Windows XP. It is also very realiable and works good even on bad mobile connections.

Telegram has channels - it is like a microblog where the owner can post messages and images, and everybody else can only read them.

And in Russia Telegram is well known (unlike Signal) because its founder (Durov) is also a founder of social network VK.

Judging by screenshots, Telegram and Signal UI look similar (well, almost every IM app looks the same).

As I understand Signal, as Telegram, requires a phone number for registration and therefore doesn't provide much privacy (the government can easily track your location and identify you). I wouldn't give a real phone number to any of them.

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