Apple also announced a similar move a few days ago

Sep 19, 2014 06:23 GMT  ·  By

In the wake of Apple’s announcement later this week when the company said upgrading to its latest operating system, iOS 8, will make it impossible for police forces to access information from most iPhone or iPads, Google is coming out with a similar disclosure.

The search giant said that its next-gen Android operating system, dubbed Android L, would bring about a major change in terms of information security. For the first time, the OS will encrypt data by default, thus taking the same steps its Arch competitor has, the Washington Post reports.

Optional encryption was offered with Android since 2011

Optional encryption was offered by Google ever since 2011, but few users really knew how to turn this feature on.

Yet when Android L comes out next month, we’re going to see some drastic changes. With encryption happening automatically, only users typing in the device’s password will be allowed access to see the pictures, video and other private info stored on the smartphone.

With both Google and Apple joining forces to adopt this particular type of encryption, it appears law enforcement institutions will be rendered powerless to collect personal data even as they have legal search warranties on their hands.

This shift in encryption standards is a double-edged sword with a big impact. Tech giants like Google claim the new regulations will enable them to build safer products, which are immune to the government’s curious eyes.

But the other edge of the blade reveals a grim reality. The first repercussions of Google and Apple not providing police with personal data from handsets and related equipment will translate into increased difficulty in solving cases.

Law enforcement usually needs search warrants in order to access info stored on the personal mobile devices of individuals under suspicion, but this will soon change.

Privacy supporters are thrilled about the new regulations

However, this aspect doesn’t seem to bother privacy advocates much, who seem to be quite enthusiastic about the change and are hailing the two tech giants for their decision to make things this way.

Apple and Google will be handling the shift in dogma in different ways, but the results will be pretty much the same.

Since Apple controls both software and hardware sectors while its mobile business it concerned, the company will slip the new encryption standard under customers’ door as they update to the latest iOS 8 system.

However, most data will probably remain in users’ iCloud accounts, which police can still access (thankfully). Nevertheless, there’s a workaround to this, one can adjust the device’s settings and block the data flow to the iCloud.

Looking towards Google now, we all know Android updates happen gradually. Sure, Google’s own Nexus devices and Play Editions get updated among the first, but then the host coming from other manufacturers remains lingering.

This is due to what experts called “fragmentation” of the Android ecosystem, so even if Android L with the automatic encryption feat comes out this month, it might take months, even years for every user of Android out there to be able to take advantage of it.