The Most Backdoor-Looking Bug I’ve Ever Seen
- Clickbait title: Check.<p>- Half-admission that the clickbait title might not apply (at the end of the article by mentioning Hanlon's Razor): Check.<p>- Actual good criticism on "don't roll your own crypto": Check (this is not a sarcasm, I liked that part of the article very much).<p>- Casual mention that the incident is from 7 years ago but implying that <i>today</i> there's a backdoor: Check.<p>- HN going crazy negative when Telegram is mentioned, as it always happens: Check.<p>---<p>I am not shilling for Telegram. I have no reason to. I can switch to Signal with my most important contacts in the space of one hour if I wanted to. I never invested any money in them either. I won't get sad if they get nuked from orbit tomorrow.<p>But it's really baffling how non-constructive most Telegram HN coverage is, both articles and comments. Sure, they have no bulletproof end-to-end encryption of messages. So, like 99.9% of all apps on all app stores then? Some generic marketing on the homepage using vaguely non-accurate language ("secure chats")? So, again, like 99.9% of the apps that have a page and put marketing lingo on them?<p>What's so uniquely awful about Telegram?<p>It's legitimately intriguing how hostile HN gets at the mention of Telegram. There might be some interesting sociological study hidden there somewhere.