
To ban Telegram Russian regulator blocked two million ip adresses(translated) - phront
https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&nv=1&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=https://m.roem.ru/16-04-2018/269861/roskomnadzor-amazon-telegram/&xid=17259,15700022,15700122,15700124,15700149,15700168,15700173,15700186,15700201&usg=ALkJrhgvjU-Z33g8ca8FRUiYZ2rL4KJyog
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kovrik
I no longer live in Russia, so can't tell if it is true, but from what I'm
reading, Telegram devs used a clever hack to bypass the blocking.

They say Telegram is using service PUSH notifications (DC_UPDATE -
[https://core.telegram.org/api/push-
updates](https://core.telegram.org/api/push-updates)) to send new server's IP.

Apparently, those push updates come from Apple/Google/Microsoft notification
servers. So if Roskomnadzor blocks those servers, then all push notifications
will stop working altogether (not only for Telegram).

Does anybody know if it is possible?

Also, Roskomnadzor asked Apple/Google/Microsoft to delete Telegram app from
their app stores.

UPD1: Obviously, Web version of Telegram won't work as it doesn't have/use
push notifications.

UPD2: Roskomnadzor blocked ~800,000 Amazon IPs and more than 1,000,000 Google
IPs. People say they're having issues with Viber calls

~~~
est
Yes it's possible.

Few years back ppl on HN says Chinese government don't dare to block Gmail
because it's waaaaayyy too important.

Turns out authoritarian governments don't give a fuck.

Ppl keep inventing the same wheel. See also:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateral_freedom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateral_freedom)

~~~
y_molodtsov
Thankfully the Russian regulator doesn’t feel that kind of power.

------
kirillseva
I remember a discussion on HN about Orchid Protocol, where proponents argued
that if you route traffic through GCP/AWS China wouldn't dare ban the big
american clouds because that would, in effect, ban most of legitimate internet
for its citizens, and that would have a net negative effect on its economy and
its citizens' well-being.

Russia shows that political will and/or technical incompetence can easily
overlook these things.

~~~
cstejerean
China couldn’t care about breaking AWS and therefore most of the western
companies that depend on it, it would simply provide an advantage to domestic
competitors. Last time I lived in China the average person didn’t use much
from outside of China on a daily basis and it’s only gotten worse (back then
people still used Facebook over VPNs but that has mostly gone away as far as I
can tell after China started more seriously cracking down on VPNs).

~~~
vbezhenar
It's similar with Russia. It has its own search (Yandex), lots of mail
servers, video hosting, social network (vk), etc. Western analogs are popular,
but if they would become inaccessible, most of people would switch and not
care that much.

------
starik36
Russia is sick and I hope it gets help soon, but probably won't.

As reported by one of the leaders of the opposition, ironically on the banned
Telegram app ([https://t.me/DmitryGudkov](https://t.me/DmitryGudkov)), the IP
blocking has resulted in cash registers no longer being functional at a
popular chain of stores.

~~~
einrealist
Russia just put the pressure on Amazon and Google. They are basically forced
to decide between keeping one customer or to have other services blocked too.
So its actually a smart (sadistic) move in a power game, by Russia.

~~~
tananaev
It's a game in which the biggest losers are Russian people in either scenario.

~~~
einrealist
Of course. Not sure why I was downvoted. I don’t agree with Russia’s decision
a tiny bit.

------
lokopodium
Amazon already asked Zello, another banned communication app, to stop using
their servers to circumvent the Russian ban.

Can't see why they wouldn't shy away here as well.

~~~
slackuser
Whats funny is that Amazon "support" net neutrality and free speech only if
this "democracy" will help they business, if not they will block your account
even if you haven't violated any rules

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _Whats funny is that Amazon "support" net neutrality and free speech only if
> this "democracy" will help they business_

Amazon supports net neutrality in America, a democracy, where debating such
things has meaning. Opposing the Kremlin in Russia is meaningless. You'll just
get stomped on. As long as Amazon don't directly support anything insidious in
Russia, that's a fair compromise between two incompatible systems.

> _haven 't violated any rules_

Different sets of rules.

~~~
Buge
>Opposing the Kremlin in Russia is meaningless. You'll just get stomped out.

Isn't there some line where if a country does something bad enough you will
refuse to do business with them? That doesn't seem meaningless to me.

You would only get stomped out in that country. You would not get stomped out
globally.

~~~
y_molodtsov
Even Apple moved part of the iCloud data to China to continue working there,
so I guess they don’t care that much as long as that doesn’t affect their xore
audience.

~~~
Buge
There's probably still some line. Just China hasn't reached Apple's line yet.

------
Namidairo
They have also asked APKMirror to stop hosting Telegram APK's (ie. The install
packages for android devices).

No word on whether or not the F-Droid repositories have been contacted as
well.

I wouldn't be surprised if infected copies started popping up soon.

------
cordite
Russian contact has to use tor on mobile now to access telegram when on cell
network. But the home ISP still has access without blockage.

Said contact sent me some text in a screenshot, I’ll provide it here. I don’t
have a source to link to.

According to an unofficial copy of Roskomnadzor’s internet blacklist, the
hundreds of thousands of Amazon IP addresses (plus some owned by Google and
Telegram) are prohibited because of a decision by the Attorney General’s
office that is technically unrelated to the April 13th court ruling in Moscow
that allowed the government to start blocking Telegram.

------
cavisne
Its surprising AWS hasn't tried to open a Russian region yet. All the
arguments about compromise of the data centres etc can also be made even more
so for China (which is both a more sophisticated opponent and one that
literally forces you to work with their state sponsored companies.

I guess the economics vs just running out of the Stockholm region dont make
sense but it seems like an underserved market

~~~
jessaustin
After this episode AWS would have to be a bit foolish to invest in assets
subject to Russian seizure.

