Blocking a large messaging platform because a minority of people are using it for piracy, of all things, seems extremely disproportionate
this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2024
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
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And it is pointless too as there are countless other messaging apps that can be used and countless others ways that can be created to circumvent. Law makers clearly do not get tech.
The other messaging apps offering better privacy on top of that, making it harder to control.
I mean Telegram has been blocked in Russia before and it didn't stop their operations for too long. At best now some engineer at telegram has one more ticket and things will be back to normal.
and it didn’t stop their operations for too long
You had to change proxies regularly, so it did. With some ISPs, at least.
I think it wasn't for really blocking it, just to test whether they can block it if they need it, during some big events.
Honestly, Telegram sucks. Use Signal for private communications and Matrix for groups/communities.
Telegram is great for nothing related to privacy.
It's the best app when it comes to functionality. It has it all.
Can you name a feature that other apps are missing?
- You can schedule messages
- Have supergroups, subgroups, broadcasts, admin roles in groups,...
- Channels can be configured in various ways. For example, you can post messages and choose the type of previews links render.
- You can add voting options to posts
- Members of the channel can only reply in threads so the replies are bundled.
- You can decide wheter new group members can view chat history or not.
- Members can be muted.
- Bots can be built withing the app
- Chats can be arranged in folders *...
I could go on.
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Matrix is good for personal communications too The us companies made you to use phone numbers for chatting Id's are convenient
I mean, sure, you can use Matrix for personal chats. It's perfectly secure, but it's not as easy to use as Signal. For example, if I told my grandma to install Element and send me her Matrix ID, she would be really confused. Signal is very easy to use, and the user experience is basically the same as on mainstream platforms like WhatsApp. I also don't think that the phone number requirement is a US thing, as Telegram also has it. Signal only requires phone numbers to prevent spam, but they recently introduced usernames, so you don't have to give people your phone number in order for them to message you.
Element is just a piece of shit. Matrix is fine for almost all use cases. If you actually need metadata protection use Session.
The old version of Element ain't great, but it is currently being replaced with a complete new, rewritten app called Element X. Check it out, it's really awesome. Session isn't good at protecting metadata, as it removes important parts of the Signal protocol, in order to work on a decentralized network. Just using Signal is probably the best solution for private communications.
Yes.
My server doesn't support sliding sync.
That's unfortunate
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Does Telegram have anything that torrents and usenet don't?
It indeed empowers common people by distributing full seasons of series all in one place in a somewhat user friendly way without "10 chicks in 10mt" popups.
A bunch of my friends, who don't even know how to install an adblocker, have a very rich catalog of things there.
Also, it is more difficult for a telegram channel to be banned than a website.
Lots and lots of sticker packs.
Sticker packs are a gateway drug to, well, drugs. Which you can buy on telegram too of course.
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It's normie-accessible
Probably not, but Telegram is very easy to use.
So are Signal, Element, Revolt and many other apps. What's to special about Telegram?
It has it all and 900 million users.
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Good luck ban it, Telegram runs everywhere without playstore and with proxy.
Sounds like EU will need to unblock it again... But Faschistoid governments do such things from time to time... (idiots)
Truly Spain without the S
My buddy in Spain says the block it pretty easier to get around at least.
Spain? Really? I thought they had a pretty left government?
This is one of the rare things where the Spanish left and right agree, for different reasons.
Simplifying a lot:
- The left generally supports culture, actors, theatre, writers, Spanish made movies. They see piracy as a threat to the earnings of those people.
- The right has historically cut any sorts of subsidies to the "culture creators", but they see piracy as a threat to the publishing, TV (...) industries.
They both support SGAE, which translates cleanly to the General Society of Authors and Editors, who protects their interests by charging fees to everyone who dares look at copyrighted work.
- You own a bar and you play TV, Radio, or Spotify? You have to pay SGAE.
- You buy a computer, part of the money goes to SGAE.
- You buy a blank CD, DVD, Hard Drive, you pay SGAE (because they know you will put copyrighted material there, and if you don't, well, fuck you)
It's a fucked up system and I don't know if things have changed in the past few years as I don't live in Spain anymore. But it honestly feels like a prosecution of the population who is so evil and trying to destroy Spanish Culture.
Tbh switzerland has a similar system to the SGAE, where there is a "hidden tax" on all devices that you can load with data. And in turn the downloading of media (with the exclusion of computerprograms and games) is legal. Only the upload of copyrighted material is forbidden.
Not a bad system imo, the tax is so small that you dont really notice it so its a pretty consumer-friendly and piracy-friendly solution. Altho I assume the swiss government gets away with it because it would be too expensive to lobby/legal for a copyrightsholder-favoured system compared with the small amount of people (let alone pirate) who live here.
That's different, we also have a "canon digital" which means you pay an extra tax on all copying and storing devices. But that has nothing to do with the SGAE, which is a corrupt organization that funnels money to their artist list, instead of giving it to the actual artists that are being played.
I'd actually agree with it IF they also didn't bother harassing piracy. So fuck 'em until then.
Yeah, true. Charging a tax on downloaded copyrighted material can be kinda okay if you don't actively chase it. It's not right to charge people a penalty for doing something but then prevent them from doing it. You can't have it both ways, if it's not right you can chase it, but don't make me pay for doing something I'm not allowed to do! That would be like having to preemptively pay traffic fines before you actually drive over the speed limit, just in case.
They do, but this is coming from a right-dominated tribunal known to be extremely conservative and reactionary in nature.
What is the relationship between the government ideology and the court system? Both are independent from each other.
Lol.
Eh, the tech-illiterate come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors.
It's a monarchy
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