The Russian authorities have reportedly decided to ban the calling feature on WhatsApp and Telegram, well-connected media figure Ksenia Sobchak reported on Tuesday, citing sources in the telecommunications industry.
The decision “has already been made at the very top,” the sources reportedly said.
“They’ve banned calls ‘under the guise of fighting terrorists,’” one source told Sobchak’s Telegram channel. Final consultations on the issue are expected to wrap up this evening, according to a government source she cited.
Sobchak noted that the apps’ messaging and channel features will still remain accessible.
People should be using Signal, which is also blocked.
I’m now frantically trying to cook up some way to be able to call my family back there. A VPN is of course an option, but also illegal.
Signal is US based and has to abide by US law.
I will assume that you are saying that people should not be using Signal based on this (e.g. the United States are sliding into fascism and may fuck over Signal).
What would you suggest then? PGP? Ngl I’m happy that GnuPG is introducing post-quantum encryption in the new releases but I’m talking about calling my grandma.
I don’t know yet what to recommend.
In this particular case literally all I want is to be able to talk to my family members without risking the FSB arresting them for calling the “Special Military Operation” a war in a phone call. If using WhatsApp for texting isn’t banned alongside phone calls, that is halfway okay for discussions of that nature, and I’ll have to watch my tongue if I call them over the Roskomnadzor-Approved ™ apps.
The trouble with those of course is that they don’t always work well with non-Russian phone numbers (because of course fucking everything needs my number nowadays). And you have to hope they’re not megaspyware. I am NOT downloading fucking MAX.