Google’s new messaging app Allo is the one to look out for, as it makes having conversations easier and interesting than ever before.
It is already a hit since the time of release and the news of its launch and its features are spreading like wildfire. You can doodle your way through your photos and make them more creative. You don’t have to type in your words anymore! Whisper Shout does it all by itself when you say your message loud into the app and you can change the text size by just a swipe across the text. One of the most salient features of this app is the active encryption feature. This means that no one can eavesdrop on your messages that are sent by using this app. But there is a snap to this brilliant feature. You have to enable the feature on your own, which means that this app doesn’t come with a default encryption feature. The tech giant’s plan of launching Allo with a default encryption feature has drawn a lot of flak and bitter comments and reviews.
Many tech firms have introduced this feature of encryption to the most popular messaging and chat apps. WhatsApp, the most popular instant messaging app from Facebook had introduced a full and default “end-to-end” encryption feature on all the platforms that includes iPhone, Android and Blackberry. The FaceTime video calling feature from Apple that was launched in 2010 also came with a strong and default encryption feature. iMessage from Apple launched in 2011 also hit the market with a sturdy and default encryption feature. This means that the government cannot approach anyone for any details or enforce any law or force, to grant access to the chats and messages that has been empowered by the encryption facility.
Even-Steven reviews!
Edward Snowden of America has criticized this decision of Google for disabling default end-to-end encryption of Allo, saying it makes the app unsafe and is dangerous to use. He has even advocated the users to avoid using the app as of now. Though there are a lot of negative remarks, there still seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Law enforcement officials’ claim that disabling the default encryption feature and making it an option is certainly very useful for them as they will now have access to the data when the messages and chats are not encrypted. So this move by Google seems to be balanced.
Top officials from different professional fields claim that Allo should have the encryption feature by default and this would lead to an increase in the load of encrypted messages around the world, which seems to be a good thing ultimately.
With the coming out of Allo, Google has taken a huge step ahead in joining a number of other tech companies for clasping onto the “end-to-end” encryption feature, which seems to be mandatory nowadays, keeping in mind the essential privacy and security of messages, photos, videos, calls etc. of the users. But, by offering the choice to the users to enable it, the odds of this feature to be implemented will become lower.