Google's Allo App Can Reveal To Your Friends What You've Searched (recode.net)

Google's new messaging app Allo can reveal your search history and other personal information when you include the Google Assistant bot in chats, according to a report. From the article: My friend directed Assistant to identify itself. Instead of offering a name or a pithy retort, it responded with a link from Harry Potter fan website Pottermore. The link led to an extract from "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. But the response was not merely a nonsequitur. It was a result related to previous searches my friend said he had done a few days earlier. [...] When I asked "What is my job?" in my conversation with my friend, Assistant responded by sharing a Google Maps image showing the address at which I used to work -- the address of a co-working space, not the publicly listed address of my previous employer. Google had the address on file because I had included it in my personal Google Maps settings. It did not ask my permission to share that.

Comments

This is VERY bad

[JustNiz]

I can see this being VERY damaging to society as a whole.

For example, imagine the trouble that can ensue from Allo revealing what your search history is. For example imagine your discover your wife/husband has been googling lots of articles about divorce. It may actually be because they are finding ways to best help a friend through their problems, but you can imagine the stress discovering just that fact in isolation might cause in a relationship.

Its also directly encouraging a "N. Korea" type society where you can be judged on your private thoughts. For example you could be a perfectly stable person but just because you googled some stuff about the NRA, your opinions are now perceived as sufficiently alternative from the current pee-cee status quo that you might not even get through any job interview in CA.