A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy

Endless Thread

When the founder of the messaging and social media app Telegram, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France, it exposed something: many of Telegram's millions of users believe the app is much more secure than it actually is.

Some of those people use the app for crime; others to communicate about sensitive political topics in war zones. Media outlets (including, we must admit, Endless Thread) have often described Telegram as an encrypted app, but that's not quite right. Telegram, and who knows who else, can access most of what's said and shared on the platform. There are crucial differences between apps like Telegram, and other services known for encryption, including WhatsApp and Signal, and many people using the apps don't understand the differences. Do we need to? Wired's Andy Greenberg, Natalia Krapiva at Access Now, and Matthew Green, a professor at Johns Hopkins, say absolutely.

This week, we look at the anarchist, googler, and billionaire moguls behind the tech that millions of people around the world use for basic communication. And we imagine what it looks like when an app actually protects your conversations from prying eyes? We also ask: why should you care, even if you think you have nothing to hide?

Show notes:

• "What is Telegram and why was its CEO arrested in Paris?" (The Associated Press)
• "Is Telegram really an encrypted messaging app?" (A Few Thoughts on Cryptography Engineering)
• "Signal is more than encrypted messaging. Under Meredith Whittaker, it's out to prove surveillance capitalism wrong." (Wired)
• "Eugene from Ukraine." (Endless Thread)

Credits: This episode was produced by Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski. It was written and hosted by Ben Brock Johnson. It was edited by our managing producer, Samata Joshi.