Internet ombudsman says impossible to mute Telegram via IPs

MOSCOW, Apr 28 (PRIME) -- Muting messenger Telegram via IP addresses is impossible because it obstructs work of other resources, and its closure will not help fight against terrorists and criminals, Internet ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev said on Saturday.

“(The blocking) cannot be eternal, because Telegram is not a website, it’s an application. It is impossible to block it by closing IP addresses, and the war will be infinite although the client part of Telegram is an open code, which can be analyzed and understood. Telegram will be able to upgrade its software. Any detected flaw will be immediately covered by a new version, and it will continue developing infinitely, and anything can be blocked,” Marinichev said.

Fighting against Telegram is a court decision that sets a technologically unfeasible target.

“The goal is not in blocking Telegram, but in organization of safety of the society, war on terror. And a question arises here whether it will help in the war on terror or not. And we find rather a simple and clear answer: of course, not,” Marinichev said.

Presidential advisor for the Internet German Klimenko said late on Friday that he will meet on May 3 with the industry’s representatives to discuss sustainability of the global network in the wake of Telegram blocking.

“There are ideas that could stabilize the situation,” Klimenko said, adding that the meeting will discuss limited access to third-party resources because of Telegram’s blocking, not the spat between the messenger and the service.

“We’ll hardly be able to help Telegram and the communications service to find a way out of the situation they’re trapped in. It’s their story, and I don’t want to meddle in it. But we can help the companies affected by the service’s sanctions.”

The advisor said he wants to engage hosting services, “they have enough competences to create products to make life easier for our market players, those who are suffering functional problems in the situation with Telegram.”

The communications watchdog will be most likely absent from the meeting.

All suffer, but Telegram

Instant payment operator Qiwi said that everyone except Telegram, are hurt by the efforts to block the messenger. Qiwi welcomes a free Internet in the country and opposes inequality and access restrictions to the Web.

“We think that any solutions restricting development of technologies should be implemented with respect to feasibility of their fulfilment and assessment of the consequences for responsible business. The activity of the supervising entity resembles a bull in a china shop: everyone suffers from it, except Telegram,” Qiwi said in a statement on Saturday.

Head of popular social network Odnoklassniki Anton Fedchin said the Telegram situation hurts the whole of the Russian economy.

“The current situation has already expanded beyond the Internet community and affects business on the whole: almost every company that contacts its clients online is Internet-dependent now. As a result, problems in the work of core online services start influencing not only the Internet, but also the whole of the Russian economy,” he said late on Friday.

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