2024-08-25 17:20:25
Photo: Alexey Zotov/TASS
sharePavel Durov, one of the founders of Telegram, was detained at Le Bourget Airport in France at around 8pm the night before. Know beforehand that it’s all about the messenger. French media WriteSecurity forces were unhappy with the “lack of restraint and refusal to cooperate”. Fontanka asked media lawyer Fyodor Kravchenko about Durov’s possible liability for refusing to cooperate with the state.
Photo: Fedora Kravchenko’s VKontakte page
share— What are your thoughts on the detention of Pavel Durov in France?
“The French authorities are absolutely not afraid of doing this for no reason.” It is likely that they have documented some violations. We can’t guess which ones right now. The French president cannot issue any orders to the judges, and Pavel Durov’s defenders will be able to speak freely about all irregularities, doubts and weaknesses of the prosecution. I accept that there will be some kind of agreement between Durov and the French authorities, perhaps even on opaque terms. However, I rule out that they will “stitch” an absolutely far-fetched allegation to his innocence.
— Is the United States behind the persecution of Durov?
– Cooperation between countries is possible in this regard. I can’t rule out some political reasons for us to travel to the United States (for example). However, there should be, and probably is, a legal basis for such detention. Therefore, it cannot be said that the United States ordered France to detain Pavel Durov. Instead, French law enforcement agencies had grounds to detain Durov. Perhaps the United States also has some aspirations on this issue. But it is impossible to telepathically determine whether there is any agreement between senior officials or special departments of each country. Regardless, there needs to be a reason to detain a person in France. If the detention was purely political, Durov would soon be released and those who detained him would be held accountable.
— Should I be wary of sharing Telegram Messenger encryption keys?
——There is such a possibility. As I said, an agreement is possible. You cannot detain and prosecute a completely innocent person. If any suspicions about Durov were justified, he might have been offered some kind of deal, one of which would have been to provide expanded access to user data. If Pavel Durov refused to do so, he would not be tortured or threatened to deprive him of his property in France. The point is that he will be punished for what he has done. Really, I don’t know what he’s really capable of.
So far there have been accusations that he failed to cooperate with French law enforcement agencies. It must be noted here that this does not in any way mean that Durov is responsible for crimes that may be committed by those who use Telegram. For example, the Moscow City Telephone Network assumes no responsibility for the fact that criminals committed crimes through its negotiations.
— What are the liabilities associated with refusing to provide data?
— There are two possible methods of determining liability. The first is a violation of the rules requiring access. In this case, the responsibility cannot be too great. Most likely, its nature has nothing to do with Pavel Durov’s personal responsibility. We are talking about various fines against businesses and the Telegram company itself.
This could be even more dangerous if French prosecutors suddenly try to convict Pavel Durov of conspiracy to commit various horrific terrorist attacks and other crimes. In this case, however, the prosecution would have to prove that Durov had the intention to carry out all these terrorist attacks, which is of course absurd. It was necessary to prove that the subjective aspect of Pavel Durov’s behavior was the desire to protect some terrorists from detection of their crimes.
— But what if it’s the latter?
“If French prosecutors suddenly go down this path, I am sure we will be facing an absolutely precedent-setting long-term dispute over free borders and the right of the intelligence services to control the means of communication.” Important disclaimer: I am still not a French legal practitioner Expert, so I’m just speaking in general terms here.
— How have the platforms’ cooperation with Russian authorities changed?
— Over the past ten years, many laws have been passed and dozens of amendments have been carried out, some of which are part of the so-called “Yarovaya Plan”. They impose increasing responsibilities on social networks and instant messaging tools. Their owners need to provide reams of data to understand which users exchanged what information with which users and when. Recently, a rule was introduced whereby social networks can only provide access to users if they are identified. You may have noticed that recently personal and corporate SIM cards are only issued after identity verification by state services or using a passport. Therefore, the possibility that users can create accounts anonymously on social networks is gradually decreasing.
A database of tens of millions of users is formed and identified using subscriber numbers or other similar mechanisms. This makes it easier to fine and bug them. If any FSB colonel or major requires information beyond what is legally required, he can almost certainly obtain it in Russia.
— How does the platform cooperate with European and US authorities?
— EU countries and the United States remain legal countries. There, officials have no opportunity to make arbitrary decisions. In some cases, for example, political and party motivations, interests of the intelligence services may lead to the abuse of this right and attempts to exploit it not for its intended purpose but to achieve the desired results. However, there are many obstacles to these attempts. The media, the big media companies, will be quick to bring this to light. There are independent courts and prosecutor’s offices.
— According to French media reports, Durov was questioned about “non-cooperation”. What is your comment on this?
— The root cause of the problem is that there are hundreds of millions of people on Telegram. The company’s servers contain terabytes and petabytes of information critical to many governments and intelligence agencies. They obviously want to control this information. If Pavel Durov cooperated with French intelligence services, the United States, Russia, Israel and other countries would immediately file complaints against him. That’s probably why he’s at least publicly stated that he’s not working with anyone. This is a relatively understandable position. If he gives to some but not to others, others will try to cause harm in order to blackmail him and force him to provide the necessary information.
Interview by Fyodor Danilov, Fontanka.ru
Photo: Alexey Zotov/TASS
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