Google’s Allo Has Sparked Concern
‘Allo’ allo, has an ominously threatening product been unleashed upon an unsuspecting community of Google users?
There have been many good films and TV dramas in which a lead character looks charming and benign at first but slowly develops a sinister edge to become an increasing threat to main lead.
Now, the snoop-cum-whistleblower-cum-international fugitive Edward Snowden has assigned these same characteristics to Google’s new Allo App, possibly giving it the best publicity it can get.
Allo is going head to head with WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, but purports to improve on both through integration with Google Assistant, its Apple Siri like intelligent interface.
The new package has made a good start, with over five million downloads in the first week since its launch and shooting it into pole position in the App charts.
With Allo, Google Assistant can join in the messaging conversation.
If two friends using Allo agree to go to see a film, Assistant can be called in to make some suggestions and, following a choice, go buy the tickets, acting like an online concierge.
However, whereas a hotel concierge can be relied upon for absolute discretion and gets left behind after a vacation, Assistant remembers everything you ask it, learns your preferences and starts to make unsolicited suggestions.
It does have the potential to become the equivalent of an aggravating, persistent friend who you tire of.
Not only does the combination of Allo and Assistant keep your messaging history, but also, unlike WhatsApp, it does not do end-to –end encryption by default. This could be why Snowden has dubbed it ‘Google Surveillance’ and warned us all to steer clear.
