Google will bring RCS (Rich Communication Services) messaging directly to Android users in the UK and France this month. More countries are set to get the service in the near future.
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RCS Not End-to-End Encrypted
In February, Google said it was “working with many of our ecosystem partners, including Samsung, Huawei, America Movil, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica, Telenor, and Vodafone, to make RCS more widely available.” It seems that ultimately it decided to strike out by itself. Users will be given the option of whether or not to opt-in to RCS.
However, unlike iMessage, WhatsApp and Signal, RCS is not end-to-end encrypted. Given consumers’ growing demands for privacy, this seems to be an error on Google’s part. In a statement to The Verge, Android Message product manager Sanaz Ahari said:
We fundamentally believe that communication, especially messaging, is highly personal and users have a right to privacy for their communications. And we’re fully committed to finding a solution for our users.
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