Google causes heated controversy for 'reporting' employee messages to leaders

Your company can now read RCS chats in Google Messages, despite end-to-end encryption.

Employers can now read RCS chats in Google Messages despite end-to-end encryption - Photo: FREEPIK

Microsoft sparked outrage when it announced a Teams update that let the company know when you were away from work, according to Forbes . Now, Google is doing the same. The new Android update will make RCS messages (a messaging platform that can send photos and videos ) and SMS messages no longer private.

Google sparks controversy for exposing personal messages to the company

As Android Authority reports, "Google is rolling out the Android RCS Archival feature on Pixel phones and other Android phones, allowing employers to intercept and archive RCS chats on managed devices for work purposes. In simpler terms, employers can now read RCS chats in Google Messages despite end-to-end encryption."

The above feature applies to devices managed for work, not personal devices. In some highly regulated industries, this feature simply adds RCS archiving to the existing SMS archiving process.

Google says it's "a reliable message archiving solution, supported by Android. Employees will see a clear notification on the device whenever archiving is enabled."

Having a company-provided phone is no longer a desirable perk. While employees have long been aware of the risks of oversharing via email—a technology that is notoriously insecure and open to scrutiny by management—texting is seen as different. This isn’t just for highly regulated industries. Any organization can adopt it.

In response to user backlash, Google said that "this update does not change or impact the privacy of personal devices. This is an optional feature for work phones, where employees have been notified that their communications are stored for compliance purposes."

With RCS messages, any content sent can be archived. "When configured by IT on a managed device, the archiving app will be notified when each RCS message is received. Not only when a message is sent or received, but also when a message is edited or deleted." So editing afterward is pointless.

Be careful with everything you send.

While WhatsApp is not affected, users should still be cautious with WhatsApp backups that are included in their phone's general backups. If those backups are not encrypted, your saved messages could be accessed.

For example, if you back up your iPhone to iCloud without Apple's Advanced Data Protection enabled, your backup could be accessed. WhatsApp offers fully encrypted backups that are separate from your phone's backups. If you use this feature, your old messages will be safe.

Another issue is the risk from the other party. Even if your messages are fully encrypted, if the recipient takes a screenshot, makes an unsafe backup, uses Windows Recall, or uses AI to read the screen, the content of the message can still be exposed.

Obviously, you won't know if any of these risks are on the phone of the person you're texting, so you need to be careful with everything you send.

If you're using a company-managed Android phone, pay attention to the warning message that your messages are no longer private.

DAWN

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/google-gay-tranh-cai-du-doi-vi-bao-tin-nhan-cua-nhan-vien-cho-lanh-dao-20251205223138551.htm