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Don't Use Google Allo (vice.com)
At its developer conference on Wednesday, Google announced Allo, a chatbot-enabled messaging app. The app offers a range of interesting features such as the ability to quickly doodle on an image and get prompt responses. Additionally, it is the "first Google" product to offer end-to-end encryption, though that is not turned on by default. If you're concerned about privacy, you will probably still want to avoid Allo, says the publication. From the report: Allo's big innovation is "Google Assistant," a Siri competitor that will give personalized suggestions and answers to your questions on Allo as well as on the newly announced Google Home, which is a competitor to Amazon's Echo. On Allo, Google Assistant will learn how you talk to certain friends and offer suggested replies to make responding easier. Let that sink in for a moment: The selling point of this app is that Google will read your messages, for your convenience. Google would be insane to not offer some version of end-to-end encryption in a chat app in 2016, when all of its biggest competitors have it enabled by default. Allo uses the Signal Protocol for its encryption, which is good. But as with all other Google products, Allo will work much better if you let Google into your life. Google is banking on the idea that you won't want to enable Incognito Mode, and thus won't enable encryption.Edward Snowden also chimed in on the matter. He said, "Google's decision to disable end-to-end encryption by default in its new Allo chat app is dangerous, and makes it unsafe. Avoid it for now."
...is going to be a big success. Don't ask me why, this is how the market work :)
Google, with Eric Schmidt at the helm, who also works for the DoJ, would really allow you to to get private and practically unbreakable end-to-end-encryption. Obviously it's a case of let's do it and say we didn't, and they will be able to read your communications.
Unencrypted? Oh no! Now the hackers know where I'm meeting my wife for dinner!
If you care whether your texts are encrypted, you're either paranoid or cheating on your wife. Get over yourself.
I would probably still use it. For my convenience I happily share a lot of things.
There are of course things I won't share but then I won't use this service for those.
The description of Allo in this /. post actually talked me into using it. Well done.
"Use Google Allo with end-to-end encryption enabled"
There's no denying that some users will want the privacy of end-to-end and other users will want to use Google Assistant, but I'm willing to bet that a significantly greater percentage of users will prefer to get the help that Google Assistant provides.
Since that really comes down to an entirely personal preference, why should setting the default to one side be any worse than setting the default to the other?
Yeah, that's right, 'home' means mildew in Finnish. You want that spreading around your house?
What biggest competitors have it enabled by default? Maybe WhatsApp. You don't think Facebook/skype/etc are scanning your messages? No one really knows about WhatsApp either. It isn't open source so you have no idea what it is really doing.
so if both ends of the communiation are talking Englsh but are using outrageous French or German accents, will this automatically use Google translate?
Who's there? Well, just about everyone if it's not encrypted...disappointing.
You'd think that with all Google's resources they could come up with something better, like:
1. Encrypted (default)
2. Encrypted but where Google has the key so can "listen in" and provide those helpful suggestions, and
3. Not secure.
Come to think of it, if you had option 2, who in their right mind would opt for option 3?
This is a prime example of (-1) flamebait headline.
Or is it simply "clickbait"? I don't even know these days.
That's okay, I prefer the original BBC show, well it depends on who they get to play Yvette...
Captcha: nakedly
and also to upgrade to Windows 10.
than jumping off? That certainly is a quandary, now isn't it. You Brits. Exit already!
How so? Even if its communications are encrypted, I see no benefit to having Google store and data mine my communications and leave them vulnerable to disclosure via a ridiculously easy-to-get court order or through a company break-in. And if anything, Google should be paying people to use Allo.
end to end means nothing, the end is Google, that is bad
If you cannot trust the endpoint, what is the point in trusting end to end encryption?
Given that Google is in bed with the Alphabet (pun intended) agencies and data mining like a Arthur Skarkil who would want a HOT mic in their house (under the Umbrella corp branding of NEST - pun intended again).
All this tech is great like Star Trek and all that but, in a commercial and government spying world. No thanks.
The ONLY solution to hot mic technology, is to nip it in the butt before it takes hold. Cut the wires. Cut their funding, don't buy it, don't encourage it.
He knows everything about everything. What a GENIUS!
I am far more concerned with writing quickly and accurately than I am with anyone ever going to court to get my communications.
yep me too....
keep forgetting on /.
just because some people don't want to share stuff with google, everyone must stop doing it...
I don't give to fucks if they read my emails / sms'
hell, all my personal bank / home loan statements' , credit card bills are on google drive.....
do I give a fuck they are being read by google? what are they going to do - pay my credit card bill for me?
fuck you fuck tards who think no one is allowed to use google becuase one person decides they don't want to , so everyone must stop...
fuck... how long have google been around, and harvesting people's data?
why do dicks on here constantly act "surprised" when they find out that google are reading all their shit?
+1!
I'm more concerned with what Google does - or is secretly compelled to do - with that data.
The ONLY solution to hot mic technology, is to nip it in the butt before it takes hold.
The phrase is "nip it in the bud" - to cut it off before it flowers. Nip it in the butt, means something rather different. No bad, just different.
If only we could fall into a woman's arms without falling into her hands
Don't Use Google Allo
Well that's a bloody condescending headline. Tell me why you think I shouldn't, or tell me that someone notable like Snowden has said not to use it, but don't tell me what to do.
I'll use Google Allo if I want to*, end-to-end encryption or not.
*I don't want to, but that's beside the point!
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
You don't mind being mined? You don't mind seeing a filtered view of the world that looks how you would prefer it rather than how it actually is? You prefer not seeing what other people see? You prefer not knowing what's really going on?
I mind.
Definitely don't use Google Allo Allo.
At the bottom of the
"Edward Snowden also chimed in on the matter. He said, "Google's decision to disable end-to-end encryption by default in its new Allo chat app is dangerous, and makes it unsafe. Avoid it for now.""
Listening to a criminal and traitor is dangerous, too.
I give a lot of fucks that my SMS with you would be mined by Google without my permission, just because you alone chose to share them.
So far, Google only reads my shit when I choose to share it with Google.
Now, go check the GOOGL share price, you self-centered twit.
If I am talking to someone about buying a Subaru and maybe ordering a pizza, I don't mind seeing advertisements for Subarus and pizza.
Don't tell me what to do!
You don't mind seeing a filtered view of the world that looks how you would prefer it rather than how it actually is?
That is probably one of the most inadvertently stupid things I've read on Slashdot.
Trust me it will be auto correct on steroids. Screen shots will show up in divorce proceedings.
Although on the other hand, for those of us that can't stand small talk over text, its a god send. Sure, lets reply to small talk as if I'm good at doing that. It will be a protection against actually trying to explain in depth how my day went.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
Reminds me of Monty Python: Upper class twit of the year.
I'm a Republican, you insensitive clod.
It's a butt-head technology -- only butt-heads use tech that spies on them.
You don't mind seeing a filtered view of the world that looks how you would prefer it rather than how it actually is?
What filtered view of the world? I know people have been talking for years about the possibility of Google search becoming so personalized that it filters out all contrary views but personalized search isn't that personalized, and I don't think it ever will be.
Data mining may be a concern, depending on your perspective, but the "filter bubble" really isn't. Not with Google search, at any rate. I think it is a concern on social networks and in online forums where people congregate only with those who think the way they do. And in heavily-slanted mainstream media publications.
I don't exactly have anything to hide in the stupid conversations with my sister or friends. Worst thing anyone will see are my corny jokes. Not exactly something I'm worried about someone getting a court order to read.
Usually when I'm looking for info on Subarus and Pizzas, I get ads for Fords and Chinese food, because that's how targeted advertising works.
end to end means nothing, the end is Google, that is bad
No, the end is the other party you're chatting with. Google doesn't have access if you use incognito mode. Of course, you'll lose most of the features of Allo in incognito mode. If you're not in incognito mode, the communications are all encrypted, but it is between you and Google and Google and the other person, so the AI can do all of the assistant stuff.
Given that Google is in bed with the Alphabet (pun intended) agencies
No, Google is not in bed with the three-letter agencies. There is absolutely no evidence that Google ever has been in bed with them. Google complies with the law, nothing more. There is evidence (from Snowden's documents) that Google's inter-data center communications were being tapped, but Google moved quickly to encrypt them all to put a stop to that.
Of course, Google does analyze data in order to target ads to you, and any data about you that happens to get stored at Google is available for properly-executed warrants, subpoenas, etc. So if those things bother you, stay in incognito mode and don't use the assistant features, or don't use Allo.
I live off-life and block ever tracker. Normally when I'm looking for Subarus and Pizza I get ads for penis enlargement pills and local hotties who want my phone number. I never chased those hotties, I got too busy punching the monkey.
Why should I, or anyone else for that matter, care what Snowden has to say on the matter (or any other matter for that matter)? He stole and leaked documents. That provides no basis whatsoever for him having the skills or certification for him to speak meaningfully into the technical nature of this particular issue.
Better known as 318230.
Pretty much. I can turn on the incognito mode if I need to.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
The headline "Don't use Google Allo" is what convinced me to use it.
Fuck you Slashdot - stop trying to tell me what to do.
Does anyone know of an impartial tech news source?
How else am I going to get them?
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Sorry, I'm only a 1336 h4x0r.
"As if Google, with Eric Schmidt at the helm, who also works for the DoJ, would really allow you to to get private and practically unbreakable end-to-end-encryption."
Google seems to be rapidly destroying itself. One article: Google investors sue Page, Schmidt over $500M settlement with DOJ
Another: Revealed: Apple and Google's wage-fixing cartel involved dozens more companies, over one million employees.
I am far more concerned with writing quickly and accurately than I am with anyone ever going to court to get my communications.
Have you ever heard of the third party doctrine or parallel construction?
If I am talking to someone about buying a Subaru and maybe ordering a pizza, I don't mind seeing advertisements for Subarus and pizza.
Does it bother you that some people don't want that?
The headline "Don't use Google Allo" is what convinced me to use it.
Fuck you Slashdot - stop trying to tell me what to do.
You obviously haven't realised yet that if you feel you need to do the opposite of what someone tells you to do your actions are still determined by their opinions and not by your own.
I don't get it why everyone thinks end-to-end encryption is so secure.
There is no remotely secure way to just make everyone keep chatting and make the process secure at the same time.
It's like hiring FedEx to install a lock on your house door and believe that the only one who has the key to it is you.
And you don't even get to know what lock and what key it is...
Has anyone reverse engineered whatsapp/telegram/whatever code to check what encryption scheme is used and how the keypair is generated and shared?
Don't you like having a history of what you've said in chats? Incognito mode erases the history when you are done...
Wouldn't you just rather have a chat app that's encrypted all the time and lets you decide when to delete a chat or not?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
No, it doesn't, or maybe not always.
Buy something from Digikey. You'll see tons more Digikey ads, not Mouser or other.
They want the easy sale, not to confuse or delay purchase.
I won't let you tell me what search engine i should use.