New Privacy Initiative in France
Recently, France has rekindled discussions about implementing legislation that would require messaging service providers to create "backdoors" for police access to encrypted messages. This proposal has sparked significant debate and was initially rejected by the Senate; however, the Prefect of Police in Paris has once again raised the issue, alarming digital rights advocates.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov expressed his outrage regarding such potential legislation, noting that it could lead to a loss of privacy rights for French citizens. He warned that the introduction of "backdoors" could jeopardize personal data security, making it accessible not only to law enforcement but also to criminals.
Durov emphasized that even if the encryption systems were weakened, criminals would simply switch to other platforms that ensure anonymity. According to him, Telegram has maintained a strict no-backdoor policy and is prepared to exit the market rather than betray the principles of privacy.
He reminded that Telegram complies with EU legislation and cooperates with law enforcement by disclosing only limited information, such as IP addresses and phone numbers of suspects, but never the content of messages.
Despite the rejection of the bill, Durov urged vigilance as the issue of encryption remains pertinent, with new initiatives likely to arise in the future.
While Telegram positions itself as an end-to-end encrypted messenger, critics point out that encryption is not enabled by default in all chats, raising questions about its security.