Telegram disputes the order of the Federal Security Service in the Supreme Court, which threatens to block the messenger

On July 19, 2016, the FSB issued Order No. 432 approving the procedure for providing organizers of information dissemination on the Internet with the data required for decoding electronic messages of network users. Now Telegram Messenger LLP has filed an administrative claim with the Supreme Court of Russia for declaring this order null and void, Vedomosti reports.



Telegram makes every effort to avoid the need to provide keys to decrypt the data of its users. This struggle has so far led only to the fact that in October of this year, the Meshchansky District Court of Moscow fined the messenger 800,000 rubles for the fact that the company refused to provide the keys. She was found guilty of failure to comply with the federal law on storage, execution and transfer of information. This decision was filed an appeal, which is in the Meshchansky court of Moscow.



The appeal contains information on the discovery by Telegram lawyers of serious shortcomings in the order to which the FSB referred in its protocol of administrative offense. According to lawyers, the main problem is that the order was issued by an unauthorized body. The fact is that according to the law, it is up to the government to determine the order of interaction between the organizers of information dissemination on the Internet with government agencies that carry out operational search activities or ensure security. And the work on this document is still in the cabinet.

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Another problem is that the order was issued on the basis of inactive federal law. At the time of publication of the order "The Law of Spring" has not yet entered into force. This happened a day after the order was issued. Plus, the draft document did not pass the public comment stage, which is a necessary stage in the process of forming new legislative acts. At the same time, the amendments, which the FSB plans to make to the order, have already been published on the state website for posting information on the preparation of documents of state significance.



Another problematic issue is the requirement of the FSB to provide information without a trial, which is contrary to the Criminal Procedure Code and the law on operational investigative activities. This law states that the control over the correspondence of citizens is possible only in the case of consideration of criminal cases on crimes of at least moderate severity, and on the basis of a court decision. At the same time, no court decisions were sent to Telegram. But if the FSB received the keys, then the secret service would be able to control the correspondence of all Telegram users (only in Russia more than 6 million accounts are registered).







According to Sarkis Darbinyan, a lawyer of Roskomsvoboda, Telegram may become the first instant messenger to be blocked in Russia for refusing to provide information about users. And this will not be the first messenger, precedents have already happened. First of all, it is BlackBerry Messenger, Line, Imo.im. True, the operators of these messengers refused to provide data that is necessary for inclusion in the register of distributors of information. As for Telegram, Pavel Durov, the owner of the developer, said that he provided the data, but would not cooperate with the FSB. At one time, he said the following: “In the framework of work with the Russian regulator, we can only promise to continue to work together to remove public materials related to the propaganda of terrorism, drugs, calls for violence and child pornography, and also to continue the work on suppressing spam.”



Nevertheless, the inclusion of Telegram in the register of distributors of information, according to experts, automatically “sticks” on the organization the obligation to store and provide information.



Roskomnadzor will be able to start demanding data from Telegram immediately after the Meshchansky court decision enters into force. After that, Roskomnadzor will be able to send another request to Telegram. If it is not executed within 15 days, the agency will be able to block the messenger. Thus, in theory, Telegram will be able to block even before the New Year. However, this is unlikely to affect the popularity of the messenger in the Russian Federation, since the operator has provided special extensions for his program that allow him to bypass the block.