FSB drafted protocol to Telegram for refusing to provide encryption keys
Despite the requirements of the law of Spring, Telegram refuses to decipher the correspondence of users. Pavel Durov writes that in the London office in recent weeks, FSB demands have come to issue encryption keys in accordance with the Spring Act. Pavel emphasizes that a similar situation was in Iran, “and in all the years of work we have not blocked a single political channel and have not given the authorities a single byte of personal data.” One of the documents dated September 14, 2017 ( pdf ) from the FSB in the name of Pavel Durov contains a copy of the administrative offense report against the company Telegram Limited Liability Partnership. According to Telegram lawyers, such administrative protocols inevitably lead to litigation.
The letter from the FSB said that the protocol was drawn up for the offense provided for in part 2.1 of article 13.31 of the Code on Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation “upon the non-fulfillment of the obligation to provide the federal executive body in the field of security with the information necessary to decode received, transmitted, and / or processed electronic messages.
Telegram was invited to send the company's legal representative to the FSS reception office at Kuznetsky Most, 22 with identity and official documents. The company did not do this, therefore, on September 14, the senior consultant of the Organizational and Analytical Department of the Scientific and Technical Service of the FSB of Russia, D. Ovchinnikov. (with the participation of a translator) drew up a protocol on an administrative offense in the absence of a Telegram representative.
For refusal to transfer encryption keys to the messenger, a fine of up to 1 million rubles is threatened. Upon imposition of a fine, Roskomnadzor may issue an order to eliminate the violation - the deadline for its execution is at least 15 days. If the prescription is not executed, then within a day access to the service in Russia is blocked.
In the future, Russia may join Iran and also open a criminal case against Pavel Durov.
“The absence of the opportunity to visit Russia occasionally is more painful for me than not going to Iran, primarily because of my parents. But let's survive - a large globe ”, - having written Paul, accompanying his post with a picture:
Telegram in Russia has about 10 million users. Their number has increased especially after threats to block the service by Roskomnadzor.
Documents from the FSB:
→ Notice from the FSB (August 31, 2017, received by the defendant on September 11, 2017)
→ A copy of the administrative offense report (September 14, 2017)