MAXimum surveillance: how Russians are being driven into the FSB’s pocket messenger.
Starting September 1, the Russian messenger Max will become mandatory for preinstallation on all devices in Russia. But users have already noticed that the app accesses the camera every 5-10 minutes, even when running in the background. In other words, a smartphone turns into a peephole for the security services, switching on without the owner’s knowledge.
The developers rushed to explain themselves: supposedly, the camera activates only during video calls. But strangely enough, the camera also works when the app isn’t even open.
Without Max, it will be impossible to log into the Gosuslugi government portal. Verification codes will be delivered only through the “state messenger.”
Android users complain that Max appears on smartphones by itself, without being downloaded. The reason may be that RuStore is allowed to install third-party programs at its own discretion. Meaning, even a voluntary refusal to install doesn’t guarantee the app won’t end up on every Russian’s smartphone.
GitHub experts analyzed the APK file of the “national messenger,” and found that Max collects not only contacts, gender, and age of the user, but also text input history - even if the message wasn’t sent.
The app logs the list of all installed applications, tracks location, and can also listen and record audio. In essence, it’s full-fledged spyware disguised as a “citizens’ messenger.”
Max does not use end-to-end encryption. This means that all chats and calls are available to the security services in real time. Moreover, the app is initially designed only for Russian and Belarusian phone numbers.
Communication with foreign countries is reduced to a minimum. Max is just another brick in the construction of a “sovereign internet,” cut off from the outside world and fully controlled by the state.
At the same time, Roskomnadzor announced that “measures are being taken to partially restrict calls” in Telegram and WhatsApp in Russia. The agency explained the “partial blocking” of calls in these messengers as part of the fight against fraudsters. I think that after September 1, it won’t take long before WhatsApp, Telegram, and other foreign messengers are completely blocked in Russia.
