Edward Snowden has warned people not to use Google’s new chat app, because it lets the company read everything that they say.app
Google has finally released its new chat app after showing it off over the summer. It comes with a robot that watches everything people say and then stores it for later analysis, using that data to improve the app itself.
But it now appears that Google won’t be doing that after all. Instead it will keep hold of all conversations. Google will use that data to improve parts of the app, such as its smart replies feature. That will allow the app to read through conversations and try and work out how people talk – it can then use that data to suggest what they might want to say to their friends.
But Google would presumably also be able to use that same data at a future date to target ads at users. Since their personal conversations might include some of their most sensitive data, that could lead to prying of a kind that most people would object to.
Making the change does probably keep Google on the right side of the law. By keeping track of all messages, Allo conversations will be accessible by law enforcement with warrants – something that can’t happen on apps like iMessage or WhatsApp, both of which have run into trouble over not being able to give up information to authorities.
All of those problems led Mr Snowden to send out a flurry of tweets telling people not to use Allo.
“Free for download today: Google Mail, Google Maps, and Google Surveillance,” he wrote. “That’s #Allo. Don’t use Allo.”
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