Hong Kong's previous mass-protest uprisings -- 2014's Occupy Central, 2016's Umbrella Revolution -- were ultimately smashed by the state through a combination of violent suppression and electronic surveillance, greatly aided by the hierarchical structure of the protest movements (which made it possible to decapitate them by arresting their leaders) and their internal divisions and infighting. Read the rest

Although the private message app Telegram already had an "unsend" feature, you were only able to delete messages that you had sent, and only up to 48 hours after you had sent it. But yesterday they announced an expansion of this feature that allows you to unsend messages that stem from either you or the person who sent you the message, and there is no time limit. And there's more.

According to Telegram's blog:

You can also delete any private chat entirely from both your and the other person's device with just two taps.

To make your privacy complete, we’ve also introduced a way to restrict who can forward your messages. When this setting is enabled, your forwarded messages will no longer lead back to your account — they'll just display an unclickable name in the “from” field. This way people you chat with will have no verifiable proof you ever sent them anything.

Look for “Forwarded messages” in Privacy and Security settings. By the way, you can now also restrict who can view your profile photos.

A company that cares about your privacy is almost unheard of nowadays, so it's really refreshing when Telegram says, "We never use your data to target ads. We never disclose your data to third parties. We store only what is absolutely necessary for Telegram to work."

Image: By Telegram Messenger LLP - Javitomad, Public Domain, Link Read the rest

Last April, the Kremlin ordered a ban on the private messaging app Telegram, blocking millions of IP addresses that formed Amazon and Google's clouds in order to prevent users from accessing the service; not only was it an ominous moment in the evolution of the internet as a system for oppressive control, it was also an object lesson in how internet concentration has made the internet more susceptible to censorship and control. Read the rest

Yesterday, I wrote about the way that tech-sector concentration was making it nearly impossible for Russia to block the encrypted messaging service Telegram: because Telegram can serve its traffic through giant cloud providers like Amazon, Russia can only block Telegram by blocking everyone else who uses Amazon. Read the rest

Russia tried to get the creators of the private messaging service Telegram to create a back-door so its cops could spy on Telegram users; Telegram refused and Russia banned Telegram in retaliation. Read the rest

Russia's communications regulator says it has blocked IP addresses owned by Google and Amazon because Moscow claims the internet addresses are used by the Telegram messaging service that was banned by Putin's regime this week. Read the rest