Google Allo: Spying In the name of AI?
Google launched its one of the most awaited app, Google Allo this week. It has released the App for being a tough competitor with apps like Whatsapp and Telegram.
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It is a good competitor for them as it consists of essentially all functions which apps like Whatsapp and Telegram have but lacks in some functions like Document Sharing. It’s Google Bot is a great example of Artificial Intelligence which offers great functionalities to the app like integrated web search, fast and smart replies etc. But somewhere it is lacking in the privacy. Unlike Whatsapp, it does not have a default end-to-end encryption but after switching to ‘Incognito Mode’, this option gets automatically turns on. This ‘Incognito Mode’ is similar to Telegram’s ‘Secret Chat’ mode.
But Google Allo allows you to take a screenshot of the chat in Incognito Mode but Telegram restricts the taking of screenshot while in Secret Mode. So, this is a flaw in the Incognito Mode as when users can take a screenshot in Incognito Mode, then what’s the purpose of E2E.
Edward Snowden, Former NSA and CIA employee, has asked Google Allo users to stay away from it.
What is #Allo? A Google app that records every message you ever send and makes it available to police upon request. https://t.co/EdPRC0G7Py
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 21, 2016
What is #Allo? A Google app that records every message you ever send and makes it available to police upon request. https://t.co/EdPRC0G7Py
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 21, 2016
So according to him, Google is secretly storing your data and can give it to the Police if needed. The company is making Smart reply feature more efficient by using your chat data and AI analyzes it. Google announced that all non-incognito messages on Allo will be stored by default until the user actively deletes them.
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Conclusion
So the Incognito Mode of the Google Allo has some serious flaws. Whatsapp also had compromised user’s data in the past time and Facebook, recently, has taken the decision to share Whatsapp data with Facebook. So, by far, Telegram is the safest app as there is no other way to share the data.
