Telegram a privacy app

Ever since Edward Snowden came on the scene with NSA revelations, people have been more aware of data storage spying and the issues associated with Internet privacy. Encryption seems to be a weird concept, but security experts say it has value. Of course, it’s not impossible to hack, but encrypting things makes it a lot more likely that your data will remain private and won't be easily hacked.

Many apps gained popularity through the promise of privacy, with Telegram being a big one. I first came across Telegram when my marijuana dealer asked me to download it; back in the day, his profession was very dangerous. In fact, sidebar, this particular guy once had a SWAT team break into his home with machine guns drawn. He told me the gun model, but I don’t remember; it was intense, though. Anyways, I downloaded Telegram as a result of this request and wanting to keep communications private, which obviously makes all the sense in the world.

Signal is now apparently the only really secure messaging app. A lot of these apps give us a false sense of security. Snapchat makes people feel like they can sext with no consequences because they're alerted if screenshots are shared of their disappearing messages. However, this doesn’t prevent screenshots from being taken; it only informs the user that it's been done, so they can just power through. Also, that says nothing about using another camera or another phone to capture this forbidden image/content.

Anyways, in order to accentuate and point out the degree to which privacy apps are no longer dependable, this is my opening message I send to all Telegram users. Because Telegram does, in fact, make this insane error of publicizing your presence on an app you downloaded for privacy. For this reason, I message everyone this:

Use Signal, but just assume everything you look at or say is viewable.