I'd been wondering about this ever since Google released #Allo to the world yesterday.
I'd been wondering about this ever since Google released #Allo to the world yesterday. Allo, for those of you who don't already know, is a new chat-messaging app by Google focused on end users while they divert attention from Hangouts to an enterprise only solution a la Skype, GoToMeeting and others.
The one differentiating factor between Allo and the other messaging apps out there such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Viber is Google's new Assistant feature. In short, the Assistant built into Allo is an AI (artificial intelligence) you and I, and everyone else who uses Allo, will be training. You get a messaging app that competes directly with Hangouts and Google receives free crowd sourced learning for its AI.
But, in order for that AI to work, everything you share through Allo needs to run through Google's servers and that's where Edward Snowden's warning comes into play. The FBI, or any policing agency, really, can subpoena your records on Google's servers with little to no oversight. As the article below states, none of these requests are ever denied by the secret courts.
This isn't restrictive to Allo. Any communications made on any service are subject to subpoena by the government. That's your Gmail account, your Skype chat logs, your unlisted YouTube videos, Facebook posts and more.
The only hope for privacy is end-to-end encryption. Allo offers that feature in it's "Incognito" mode, as well as message destruction within a preset amount of time, which is why Assistant doesn't work in "Incognito" mode: the communications being encrypted means Assistant has nothing to work with.
Do those communication still go through Google's servers? I don't know off-hand. Maybe. Regardless, no matter what communications you use on the internet - be they email, chat, IM, Facebook, Instagram, imessage, etc - the information is saved on dozens or hundreds of servers. From your ISP's to the recipient's ISP and all the ones in between.
End-to-End encryption is the only way to ensure your messages are safe and secure from the prying eyes of hackers, your government or anyone else's. Even if they are capable of decrypting the messages, depending on the encryption standards used, it can take them months or even years for a third party to decrypt the content.
Why on Earth would you want to make doing so easy? Just keep this in mind when your communicating content that you may not want others to discover.
https://www.rt.com/usa/360196-edward-snowden-google-allo/
The one differentiating factor between Allo and the other messaging apps out there such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Viber is Google's new Assistant feature. In short, the Assistant built into Allo is an AI (artificial intelligence) you and I, and everyone else who uses Allo, will be training. You get a messaging app that competes directly with Hangouts and Google receives free crowd sourced learning for its AI.
But, in order for that AI to work, everything you share through Allo needs to run through Google's servers and that's where Edward Snowden's warning comes into play. The FBI, or any policing agency, really, can subpoena your records on Google's servers with little to no oversight. As the article below states, none of these requests are ever denied by the secret courts.
This isn't restrictive to Allo. Any communications made on any service are subject to subpoena by the government. That's your Gmail account, your Skype chat logs, your unlisted YouTube videos, Facebook posts and more.
The only hope for privacy is end-to-end encryption. Allo offers that feature in it's "Incognito" mode, as well as message destruction within a preset amount of time, which is why Assistant doesn't work in "Incognito" mode: the communications being encrypted means Assistant has nothing to work with.
Do those communication still go through Google's servers? I don't know off-hand. Maybe. Regardless, no matter what communications you use on the internet - be they email, chat, IM, Facebook, Instagram, imessage, etc - the information is saved on dozens or hundreds of servers. From your ISP's to the recipient's ISP and all the ones in between.
End-to-End encryption is the only way to ensure your messages are safe and secure from the prying eyes of hackers, your government or anyone else's. Even if they are capable of decrypting the messages, depending on the encryption standards used, it can take them months or even years for a third party to decrypt the content.
Why on Earth would you want to make doing so easy? Just keep this in mind when your communicating content that you may not want others to discover.
https://www.rt.com/usa/360196-edward-snowden-google-allo/
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