Shortly after the launch of Google's messaging app Allo and its companion Assistant bot, security experts said Google had not kept promises to better protect its users that it made at the I/O conference when the app was first introduced. Edward Snowden has been tweeting about the Allo app since yesterday, after concluding that it was nothing more than a honeypot for US surveillance efforts.
On the other hand, the company seems to be trying to counter negative reviews by responding to posts immediately. We were really impressed yesterday by the email sent by Google employees trying to justify the company. However, the content of the email does not seem to answer what people are really concerned about.
The controversy, of course, goes back to the promises the company made at Google's I/O developer conference in May. There, when Google unveiled its new app from the Shoreline Amphitheater, the promising Allo app. The company said that everything would be encrypted and secure for users. What everyone in attendance understood was that the Allo app would use end-to-end encryption, and an incognito browsing feature.
In the comments made after the launch by Google representatives, we learned that the data that will be transferred from the Allo app will be stored “transiently” on the company’s servers. This means that Google will not keep your files in a place where they could be made available to the authorities and that they will be registered completely anonymously if you enable Incognito Mode. Moreover, encryption means that all conversations will not be read by Google.
Thinking about #Hello? Last year, our secret court approved 100% of requests for surveillance. They would cover Allo. https://t.co/oYtc3Pu8tx
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 21, 2016
Months later, Google openly admitted that it had chosen to save all non-Incognito messages by default. For those who didn't realize, this is a 180-degree turn from the company's original plan, which never officially announced the change.
In fact, the online community discovered this after the public launch of the Allo app.
As things stand, the Allo app is currently on par with most chat apps, which use HTTPS to ensure data is secure.
Simply put, the data is mostly safe from hackers, but also readily available in Google's data centers, in a format that allows it to be read.
By default, it is less safe than @WhatsApp, which makes it dangerous for non-experts. https://t.co/v1xy8VffC4
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 21, 2016
As Snowden stated, it's essentially a honeypot for government agencies. The information is stored in an identifiable manner and simply awaits a subpoena that will require access to it. Of course, the company says you can delete your data whenever you want, but the company's default settings store it forever.
So we can say that the Allo app offers security but with conditions. You must have incognito mode enabled and constantly delete your data from Google's servers.
The Allo application is coming to compete with big players on today's internet, and if it wants to prevail, it will have to make a very distinct difference.
https://twitter.com/csoghoian/status/778527380558209024
