Telegram? Safe?

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I am tempted to download the app "Telegram" for a particular reason.
Anyone know anything about it?

Not the same thing as "Telegraph" (I believe that there is another app of that name as well).

But being the non tech savy babe in the woods that I am.... Im afraid of getting eaten alive by the dark net wolves.

The app was created in Russia (a red flag IMHO right there). And when I tried to down load it messages flashed on the screem about possible dangerous malware.

I dont have a smart phone yet. I might risk it for an expendable smart phone. All I got is this desk top.

The Russian twitter?
I wouldn't risk it.
As the military analytists I listen to claim - in the cyber domain, there's no peace time.

There is no safe social media.

I tend to think it has some security. A lot of the illegal activity that I know goes through it and really goes undetected by the government.

GANGSTA

It's like a black market, I think, where the need for privacy is met first, that's what I mean.

The people who created it are Russian, but the brothers who created it no longer live there.

I'm pretty sure one needs a phone in order to register, but correct me if I'm wrong.

So....
It IS evil. And therefore it is NOT evil?

Because they protect their underworld clients...so an innocent person like me ... beeifits from the security????

Just trying to follow your logic here.

Aren't you one of the underworld clients? This confuses me. So what are your requirements for using it?

I only use it when I'm looking for information blocked by the government.

GODDAMN!

HOWTHEHELL did you get THAT idea?

(its interesting that citizens of a dictatorship like you can use it as a resource though).

Okay maybe its my fault for sounding cagey when I didnt mean to sound cagey in the OP.

Okay..I will explain it.


There is a guy on Utube who has an interesting channel about rocknroll music. Classic rock of the Seventies eighties and Nineties. Interviews artists of that era.

I watch him a lot.

A couple of times I dropped some comments on the page ...like "in your history of such and such a hit song...you forgot to mention this tidbit and that tidbit".

The last time he responded, not with a comment, but by saying "text me on telegram at [the name of his Telegram account].

So it would be as if there were a minor celebrity on WrongPlanet inviting you to private message them. A compliment ( i guess).

Im looking for innocent networking with the dude in a common interest. Thats why I wanna take him up on contacting him. Nothing nefarious.

But its looking like its a dangerous site to be on.

Last edited by naturalplastic on 01 Feb 2024, 8:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm so sorry. There's been a big misunderstanding.
You will be 100% safe. This is my message to you.

OK.

Thanks.

Wikipedia has some info

“Telegram provides end-to-end encryption in voice and video calls,[10] and in optional private chats, which Telegram calls Secret Chats.”

Seems to me:

Two types of people like encryption - bad (think really really bad) guys and free thinkers.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegram_(software)

I reckon it'll be safe. I have used it in the past.

I also use an internet security suite on both Windows and Android, so I like to think that keeps me a little safer.

It is made in Russia from I think guy that make VKontakte. I had VKontakte and used it until Ukraine-Russia issues in 2014. I still have my account but I switched all the chats on there to Telegram after Crimea annexation.

I have used Telegram since maybe 2016? Rumor is that it was made because creator refused to give private data of Ukrainian VK users to Russian government. But it is basically used by Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian users like Whatsapp is used everywhere else. Most of my Russian and Ukrainian friends have it. And I am in multiple local news channels for the city and region my in-laws live in in Ukraine. So I get air raid alerts, local news, and war updates from those Telegram channels on top of using it to chat with friends and family that live in Ukraine and Russia.

I did not see many non-eastern european users using it until like 2018 or around then. But when my American irl friends did start using it, it was because they wanted to stop using Whatsapp.

Most stickers and such on Telegram are still based on media and memes that are popular on the Russian and Ukrainian speaking internet

Telegram uses its own encryption algorithm rather than relying on a standard, and gets a lot of criticism for it. Group chats are not end-to-end-encrypted by default.

The app is not spyware, it's "safe", but it's not the most private messaging app you should be using for sensitive communication. Signal, Session and Element (correctly configured) are better.

Telegram is comparable to Whatsapp, there are privacy concerns with both but overall they're not spyware, unlike Discord, Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok which are downright malicious.