That's not a great take. Not only do they understand the internet and the request seems to be formulated in a way it can be restricted to Germany, they also know the same pressure worked in other cases. For example Twitter knows which of their users are Nazi sympathisers - they're currently marked as such so that they're not displayed in Germany where it's illegal.
In other countries it seems it's more profitable to accept them...
Also: We have the deepest respect for the German language, but HN is an English language site and posts here need to be in English. It's hard enough to get people to read the articles even when they are.
Free speech is not really a thing in Germany (e.g., until very recently, insulting foreign heads of state was a criminal offence).
Our ruling class absolutely resents the fact that the German people may have a channel for at least somewhat uncensored communication. Unfortunately, we don’t have a first amendment that would put some restrictions on their lust for control and power.
This isn't about encryption at all, it's about a function that Signal doesn't have: Public and searchable groups.
A Signal group is private to the members, always and by design. You can only join by knowing someone in the group, and only read the messages by being in the group. Telegram has groups that you can find by searching, and that you can join and read without knowing anyone else in the group. That kind of group is central to several of the big problems in German society at the moment.
Very sad. The truth is everyone who wants to get vaccinated has got the jab already. Time to stop doubling down on mandates and remember we're all humans.
Someone I know is a physician at a hospital. She looked awfully tired when I met her a few days ago. "Too much corona", she explained. Shall I just suggest to her that it's time to stop doubling down?
People running what amounts to blogs on Telegram, and reaching a wide audience. Nominally they're groups but only one person can post. They can run ordinary blogs on the web and not get many readers, they can post on Facebook but the moderation there is said to be effective now. Telegram provides them with a large audience and no moderation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attila_Hildmann
Nazis looking for groups where they can recruit. The cliché is a group set up to organise protest against e.g. some new gravel pit in what was a quiet little forest, where a couple of nazis join and then mention that this gravel pit is really just another example of how capitalist jew pigs grow rich at the expense of ordinary people like the neighbours of that gravel pit. It's not clear to me why Telegram works better for them than Facebook groups. Perhaps a question of moderation style.
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[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 41.7 ms ] threadIn other countries it seems it's more profitable to accept them...
Germany doesn't rule out closing Telegram – interior minister - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29905293 - Jan 2022 (181 comments)
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Also: We have the deepest respect for the German language, but HN is an English language site and posts here need to be in English. It's hard enough to get people to read the articles even when they are.
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
Is Signal already banned?
A Signal group is private to the members, always and by design. You can only join by knowing someone in the group, and only read the messages by being in the group. Telegram has groups that you can find by searching, and that you can join and read without knowing anyone else in the group. That kind of group is central to several of the big problems in German society at the moment.
Can you elaborate on this?
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/1...
People running what amounts to blogs on Telegram, and reaching a wide audience. Nominally they're groups but only one person can post. They can run ordinary blogs on the web and not get many readers, they can post on Facebook but the moderation there is said to be effective now. Telegram provides them with a large audience and no moderation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attila_Hildmann
Nazis looking for groups where they can recruit. The cliché is a group set up to organise protest against e.g. some new gravel pit in what was a quiet little forest, where a couple of nazis join and then mention that this gravel pit is really just another example of how capitalist jew pigs grow rich at the expense of ordinary people like the neighbours of that gravel pit. It's not clear to me why Telegram works better for them than Facebook groups. Perhaps a question of moderation style.