First it was Sony’s PlayStation gaming console and now it’s the messaging service, Telegram. In the wake of the ISIS attacks on Paris, the methods the terrorist organisation uses to communicate are being examined.
One thing is obvious: they use not one but a very large number of methods to reach out to new members, radicalise and recruit, and easily communicate during operations. And it was inevitable that messaging services that keep messages private would be used by those who most want that privacy – the privacy to plot violence.
Snapchat and other services like it will vapourise messages after they’ve been relayed, making it a favourite among teens who are delighted to be able to keep their chatter away from parental prying eyes. But the same services can be used for more sinister purposes.
Telegram, a Whatsapp-like messaging service that focuses on deleting messages after one is done with them, itself announced that it was "disturbed" to learn ISIS was using its public channels to broadcast its propaganda. But it’s being pointed out by many publications that Telegram was already aware ISIS was using its services. When interviewed by TechCrunch in September, Telegram’s CEO and founder Pavel Durov clearly acknowledged that ISIS do use Telegram.
Asked whether he was able to sleep at night knowing terrorists used his platform, Durov said that the right for privacy was more important than even this and that ISIS will find a way to communicate in any case.
Now, after the attacks, Telegram announced that it had shut down 78 channels in different languages that were being used by ISIS. But the announcement sounded like the fact that they had been using Telegram was a new disturbing piece of information that they came by because users reported it.
Unsurprisingly, Telegram is now facing a huge amount of criticism although the channels referenced here are not private but public. The channels are also being shut down as they’re discovered.
The question does arrive though about the future of anonymous messengers and the price we are paying for privacy – just what governments have been pointing out, though possibly from different motives.
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
