CD196: EVGENY POBEREZKIN - SIMPLEX PRIVATE CHAT Evgeny is the founder of SimpleX Chat, a private and secure comms protocol that has a radically different approach to the concept of user identity. - @SimpleX Chat

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Been using SimpleX w my family, close friends & work colleagues (when we need to avoid Big Brother Teams) for over 18 months now. Have it running on iOS, Mac OS, and Start 9. I still think Keet renders photos, videos & calls better, but SimpleX is a champ for text messaging.
SimpleX doesn't work in Russia. Session is blocked too. Seems like it was much easier to block than Telegram (they're trying right now and it still works). SimpleX depends only on it's own infrastructure + Flux servers and it doesn't survive in restricted conditions.
It appears Telegram also does not work without VPN in Russia. We will be implementing connection rotation and redundancy it may reduce the impact. In any case, preventing transport-level blocking is a hard problem, especially if they start using LLM for traffic analysis. It is better to solve it in dedicated VPN solutions, not in the apps.
In my region (of Russia) Telegram is sometimes work without VPN, sometimes not, depending on ISP and mobile/WiFi connection. Govt controlled media yesterday signalled about Roscomnadzor is struggling to block Telegram with somehow limited resources, and it seems likely, for now at least. Maybe they just want more money for DPI infrastructure and playing, idk. I gave up on SimpleX when their support told me they doesn't have plans to implement any circumvention tools (similar to Signal's solution or others). And many many people in Russia did the same when it stop working without VPN. I hope SimpleX's position "other services must provide connection, not us do anything" will change. The difference between SimpleX's non-commercial basis and all vpns, that are paid (directly, or ads/data selling), is completely understandable... By the way in my case mentioned Session, that is still installed on my device, is not working with or without VPN, idk why. Session lasts longer than SimpleX, much longer, but since the end of 2025 I never had session online.
Yes, obfs4 or webtunnel bridges with fake SNI works when Cheburnet is off. When it's on, it's hard to connect to anything even "white listed" domains itself.
Dude, you have no idea what's going on here. What Mullvad are you talking about — it hasn't worked here for a long time. Sentinel and others "decentralised" are farming civilized West's money with shitcoins, it's not about VPN quality and resilience. Every other person in Russia keeps two or three VPN services on their phones in case the latest twice obfuscated VPN protocol suddenly stops working... Some people switch foreign VPS servers like gloves just to stay connected to the outside world. Telegram started being blocked partly because it's the most convenient source of VLESS keys (and Tor bridges), places to buy cryptocurrency, and "forbidden" information from opposition media. So your advice is a bit off the mark, man. We're on the front lines of a passive fight for free access to information.
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ly 1 month ago
I see. I stand corrected then. But if even if VLESS isn't working, how do you think Simplex will do something better to bypass all the censorship?
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hello 1 month ago
i thought you guys in russia are using things like VLESS-XTLS-uTLS-REALITY? am i correct? i don't think mullvad, nym etc. is gonna work there
I think what kind of is common between us is that you kind of dislike the place where this world arrived. Right? And you do what you can in your place with your resources, with your abilities to make this world a little bit better. I think that's why we're building communications technology because I I care about communications. [...] I really care about people being able to connect to other people. There is nothing more important. And me seeing, like, the whole world is converted into some kind of surveillance panopticon when, like, you can't really talk to anybody anymore. That's just not right. Then try to do something. Exact I was saying that something has to do something for the last twelve years. Yeah. Fifteen years now. Right? So, like, four years ago, I said that less than who? Yeah. Four years ago, I said, alright. Nobody does anything. I have to do something. View quoted note →
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Onlooker 1 month ago
People are using the wrong frequencies. There is this hype for microwaves but longer waves prevent triangulation and give privacy. Old good wave knowledge is getting lost. All are all software guys
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Onlooker 1 month ago
Do they work more with IP blocks or DNS blocks?
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Onlooker 1 month ago
Agree. I bet a possible solution will be to have some hardware VPN server positioned abroad and VPN tunnel on that. I see they lock VPNs based on IP lists.