Sad birthday. On his 41st birthday, Telegram founder Pavel Durov recently expressed concern over what he sees as a growing threat to internet freedom. In a post on Faced with these real and imminent threats, he declared: “I’m 41, but I don’t want to celebrate.”
The key points of this article:Pavel Durov expressed concern about growing threats to Internet freedom on his 41st birthday.
He has criticized some government measures he sees as tools of mass surveillance, including EU Chat Control.
A digital dystopia underway around the world
Pavel Durov described the initiatives as EU Chat ControlTHE digital IDs in the UK and the age checks in Australia of “dystopian measures” that threaten the Internet's early promise as a platform for the free exchange of information. He stressed that these policies could transform the web into a “ultimate control tool”citing examples of repression in Germany, the United Kingdom and France against those who defend freedom online. THE Chat Controlin particular, is a proposal that would require messaging services to allow regulators to scan messages before they are encrypted. This measure, according to its detractors, would infringe on the right to privacy and would weaken end-to-end encryption, essential for the security of digital communications. Although Chat Control has been supported by several European countries, therecent opposition from Germany could slow down its implementation. The head of Germany's largest political party has expressed disagreement with the law, citing concerns over privacy and the data security. Germany, with its 97 seats in the European Parliament, could play a key role in the blocking of this controversial legislation. Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, welcomed German opposition while warning that “the war was not over”. She stressed that the European Council has yet to decide on the issue and that any attempt to create “back doors” in encryption systems should be firmly rejected.
Pavel Durov sounds the alarm on Internet Freedom – Source: Compte
Freedom at the crossroads for Pavel Durov
For the founder of Telegramthis movement towards ever more control is worrying and it openly pulls the alarm bell near his generation :
“A dark, dystopian world is fast approaching, while we sleep. Our generation risks going down in history as the last to have had freedoms, and to have allowed them to be taken away from us. (…) We were made to believe that the greatest fight of our generation was to destroy everything that our ancestors left us: tradition, privacy, sovereignty, the free market and freedom of expression. By betraying the legacy of our ancestors, we have set ourselves on a path to self-destruction – moral, intellectual, economic and ultimately biological. »
Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram – Source: Account
Faced with this overwhelming observation, the entrepreneur who made his fortune thanks to Bitcoin, is bitter and definitely worried since he concludes his message with this definitive sentence: “so no, I’m not going to celebrate today. I don't have much time left. We don't have much time left.». While millions of people sign petitions against these measures, privacy advocates continue to advocate for a free and secure Internet. The battle for the protection of personal data and the preservation of encryption remains more relevant than ever, an essential fight carried out in particular in France by Alexandre Stachchenko.