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.<p>They say Telegram is using service PUSH notifications (DC_UPDATE - <a href="https://core.telegram.org/api/push-updates" rel="nofollow">https://core.telegram.org/api/push-updates</a>) to send new server's IP.<p>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).<p>Does anybody know if it is possible?<p>Also, Roskomnadzor asked Apple/Google/Microsoft to delete Telegram app from their app stores.<p>UPD1: Obviously, Web version of Telegram won't work as it doesn't have/use push notifications.<p>UPD2: Roskomnadzor blocked ~800,000 Amazon IPs and more than 1,000,000 Google IPs. People say they're having issues with Viber calls
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.<p>Russia shows that political will and/or technical incompetence can easily overlook these things.
Russia is sick and I hope it gets help soon, but probably won't.<p>As reported by one of the leaders of the opposition, ironically on the banned Telegram app (<a href="https://t.me/DmitryGudkov" rel="nofollow">https://t.me/DmitryGudkov</a>), the IP blocking has resulted in cash registers no longer being functional at a popular chain of stores.
Amazon already asked Zello, another banned communication app, to stop using their servers to circumvent the Russian ban.<p>Can't see why they wouldn't shy away here as well.
They have also asked APKMirror to stop hosting Telegram APK's (ie. The install packages for android devices).<p>No word on whether or not the F-Droid repositories have been contacted as well.<p>I wouldn't be surprised if infected copies started popping up soon.
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.<p>Said contact sent me some text in a screenshot, I’ll provide it here. I don’t have a source to link to.<p>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.
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.<p>I guess the economics vs just running out of the Stockholm region dont make sense but it seems like an underserved market