Google's new Allo raises privacy concerns

NEW YORK--Is your privacy potentially in peril when using Google's new Allo messaging app? The app, which Google began making available to iOS and Android users on Wednesday, features a secure end-to-end encrypted "Incognito mode" feature that enables you to keep a conversation hush-hush. And you can dispose of such messages automatically in seconds should you so choose to make them disappear. By default, however, your regular chat logs are stored on Google's servers until you actively decide to delete them. The Verge has reported that this a policy about-face from what Google said its intention was last May at the Google I/O conference where Allo was first announced. Allo is built around machine learning and artificial intelligence, which drives the new Google Assistant, and helps serve up "smart reply" buttons inside your chats that are meant to be shortcuts to what Google anticipates you might want to respond with next.