Google has announced that its next mobile operating system, Android L, will encrypt user data by default. Doing so will make it more difficult for personal information to be hacked or turned over to law enforcement.
On Thursday, Apple said devices running its new iOS8 software will be encrypted by default, something that not even the company itself has access to. Both companies have offered encryption for a while, but many users either don’t know it exists or don’t have it enabled. Encryption as standard also protects US companies from having to share data with law enforcement agencies.
Since the company itself doesn’t have access to the passwords of the users who broke the encryption, they don’t have the appropriate data. Some of America’s largest technology companies are challenging government demands for their users’ personal information, including Microsoft, Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Dropbox.
