Pavel Durov Has Been Charged and Must Remain in France
Pavel Durov has been accused of participating in organized criminal activities, money laundering, and refusing to provide data upon the authorities' request. This information was disclosed in a press release from the French prosecutor's office, obtained by "Novaya Gazeta Europe".
As a result of these charges, Durov is now under judicial supervision: he is prohibited from leaving France and must post a bail of 5 million euros. He will be released on bail but will be required to report to a police station in person twice a week.
The list of charges includes six crimes: • Conspiracy to manage an online platform used for illegal transactions as part of an organized group; • Refusal to provide information or documents requested by authorized bodies necessary for lawful wiretapping; • Complicity in crimes by allowing Telegram access to users involved in distributing child pornography, trafficking drugs, fraud, and other criminal activities; • Money laundering resulting from crimes or offenses as part of an organized group; • Providing cryptographic services without proper declaration; • Importing cryptographic tools to ensure confidentiality without prior declaration.
Pavel Durov Has Been Charged and Must Remain in France
Pavel Durov has been accused of participating in organized criminal activities, money laundering, and refusing to provide data upon the authorities' request. This information was disclosed in a press release from the French prosecutor's office, obtained by "Novaya Gazeta Europe".
As a result of these charges, Durov is now under judicial supervision: he is prohibited from leaving France and must post a bail of 5 million euros. He will be released on bail but will be required to report to a police station in person twice a week.
The list of charges includes six crimes: • Conspiracy to manage an online platform used for illegal transactions as part of an organized group; • Refusal to provide information or documents requested by authorized bodies necessary for lawful wiretapping; • Complicity in crimes by allowing Telegram access to users involved in distributing child pornography, trafficking drugs, fraud, and other criminal activities; • Money laundering resulting from crimes or offenses as part of an organized group; • Providing cryptographic services without proper declaration; • Importing cryptographic tools to ensure confidentiality without prior declaration.
Telegram does offer end-to-end encrypted communications through Secret Chats, but this is not the default setting. Standard conversations use the MTProto method, enabling server-client encryption but with them stored on the server for ease-of-access. This makes using Telegram across multiple devices simple, but also means that the regular Telegram chats you’re having with folks are not as secure as you may believe. Just days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Durov wrote that Telegram was "increasingly becoming a source of unverified information," and he worried about the app being used to "incite ethnic hatred." "We as Ukrainians believe that the truth is on our side, whether it's truth that you're proclaiming about the war and everything else, why would you want to hide it?," he said. Telegram has gained a reputation as the “secure” communications app in the post-Soviet states, but whenever you make choices about your digital security, it’s important to start by asking yourself, “What exactly am I securing? And who am I securing it from?” These questions should inform your decisions about whether you are using the right tool or platform for your digital security needs. Telegram is certainly not the most secure messaging app on the market right now. Its security model requires users to place a great deal of trust in Telegram’s ability to protect user data. For some users, this may be good enough for now. For others, it may be wiser to move to a different platform for certain kinds of high-risk communications. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a driving force in markets for the past few weeks.
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