Yes I know, the words Google, Messaging and Standards, all diverge in different directions and visions, and which often overlap. I have no clue what Google’s own current latest messaging app is even called.
Google has announced its support though for the RFC 9420 specifications of the Internet Engineering Task Force’s (IETF) new Messaging Layer Security (MLS) standard. According to Google, the latest specification allows for interoperability across messaging services (WhatsApp, Messenger, Google Messages, etc.) and operating systems at scale. The company also promises to make its implementation open source, and available to app developers through the Android code base.
If lawmakers and market regulators get behind the standard as well, Google is confident MLS can become the de-facto protocol across apps, thereby ensuring every app developer isn’t busy maintaining proprietary end-to-end encryption (E2EE) protocols.
So, despite Google’s involvement, the world does very much need an interoperable E2EE protocol as we are just seeing more and more islands of apps that don’t talk to each other at all. I know I sound like a stuck record about e-mail standards, but imagine if Gmail users could only send e-mail to other Gmail users?
The ideal world would be much like e-mail (but more modern) in that you choose any provide or app, and are able to communicate securely to other users who have chosen their own provider and app to use. An example could be like the Fediverse, which is based on the W3C’s open standard ActivityPub social networking protocol. You could be on the Mastodon network using one of its many apps, and I could be on say Pixelfed network using one of its apps. We can still follow each other, comment, and reply to posts etc as there is a common open protocol connecting us.
Watching what is happening with Twitter, Reddit, and others, the need is becoming ever more urgent to have established common protocols that even Apple complies with. Otherwise, we are going to face an ever-increasing fragmentation of instant messaging systems. It’s not in our interests to have a single messenger only that everyone has to use. We need to have choices and options, but be able to interconnect securely.
Let me leave you with a sobering thought… imagine if decades old e-mail were to be replaced with something updated, and with all the power players on the market we’d end up with Meta’s version of e-mail, Apple’s version, Google’s version, and more, and company X won’t just be able to send an e-mail to company Y any more.
We need standards bodies to move faster with establishing standards, and for them to be flexible enough to evolve with newer improvements. We can’t leave this up to Big Tech to do. I’m so tempted now to mention Microsoft’s OOXML “standard” but I’m biting my tongue very hard.
See https://www.androidpolice.com/google-backs-mls-standard-e2ee-everywhere/