Bugs and Suggestions

"Cloud chat data is stored in multiple data centers around the globe that are controlled by different legal entities spread across different jurisdictions. The relevant decryption keys are split into parts and are never kept in the same place as the data they protect. As a result, several court orders from different jurisdictions are required to force us to give up any data." (Telegram FAQ)

Telegram's uses a client-server encryption using a 2048-bit key shared by the client device and the server. The key is created upon user registration directly on the client device by exchanging Diffie-Hellman keys, and never transmitted over a network. (https://core.telegram.org/mtproto/description#authorization-key-auth-key)

This makes impossible for the government or other entities to intercept & access your data, unless you give them access to your device for some mysterious reason.

You can check how Telegram's custom protocol works (https://core.telegram.org/mtproto) and, if you doubt it's secure and think that someone can intercept & successfully decrypt your messages, just let Telegram know.

... Dec 30, 2020

Deleted Account

You don't seems to understand. We are not talking about intercepting network traffic. We are talking about simply accessing a telegram server, by going directly and phisically to it. Those servers need to have at some moments the plaintext of your number, or else how could they send it to you?

MTProto is a protocol, as its name suggests, and it works for describing how data are transfered, we are talking about something completely different: a government can simply going phisically to telegram servers to read data

All data not covered by end-to-end encryption (everything except secret chats) is split and shared between Telegram's distributed infrastructure. Servers are located in multiple data centers around the globe and they cannot be accessed directly & phisically without warrants / court orders from multiple governments.

Also, these data centers are located in countries where freedom of speech is guaranteed (and even there Telegram doesn't take it for granted).

It's not a matter of how complicated the process of obtaining the phone number, and so the identitiy of the person, is. It's about that it's possible. It should be impossible. Do you know how to make it impossible? By simply not giving telegram the phone number. If the phone
number does not "exist", then it can't be retrieved

There is nothing that is 100% impossible — you could be identified and traced even with an email address, since all email providers ask you for your data. Or you could be identified and traced by your IP address.

The process of obtaining just a single bit of information about a Telegram user is pratically impossibile, it would require dozens of developed, free & safe countries (where Telegram's servers are located) to get together, modify their principles, deny freedom of speech and order Telegram to disclose users data. But yeah, of course there's a very tiny percentage chance of obtaining your data.

> since all email providers ask you for your data

False. And I can simply fill it with false information

🤷‍♂️ Then you are probably violating that email provider's terms of service. And if the data you provided (such as first name or last name) is related to an existing person, you are committing a crime (impersonification and/or identity theft)

Andthe fact remains that you can still be traced by your IP address.

The law you are saying depends on the country, and the terms of services depends on the e-mail provider. It does not change the fact that there exists apps that works without phone numbers, like Wire, Matrix, Threema, or Session.

About IP address it's more complicated, let's say I'm at my university, that has only a public IP address, how can you say which was me if you only get the IP of the university?

Raif Dec 30, 2020

I agree with the proposal. Telegram should let users not give their phone numbers. Doing that, Telegram will become more privacy-friendly, like other messaging apps (Wire, Matrix, Threema, Session, etc). I hope it will be implemented soon 👍🏽

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