Google has released an initial version of its end-to-end email encryption plugin to open-source online forum GitHub, meaning anyone can examine the code and contribute to its production.
End-to-end encryption means only the sender and receiver of data can see the content of that data. It has become increasingly desired tool following NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s revelations of government snooping.
{mosads}“We’ve always believed strongly that End-To-End must be an open source project, and we think that using GitHub will allow us to work together even better with the community,” Google Security and Privacy Product Manager Stephan Somogyi said in a blog post.
The Web search giant’s goal is to create a mainstream, easy-to-use tool to fully encrypt data leaving a user’s browser. End-to-end encryption tools have long existed, but are complex and mostly used by a narrow, tech-savvy community.
Google announced its plans this summer, joining a wave of major tech companies that are adopting tougher encryption standards to counteract government spying.
Facebook decided to encrypt all its traffic and Apple’s most recent operating system locks out companies and government agencies from accessing data on an iPhone.
Google also encrypts all its traffic, and wants to extend that encryption to any message that leaves Google’s services — an email sent through Gmail, for example.
On Tuesday, Google said it had updated its end-to-end encryption software with input from Yahoo’s security team, as well.
Once Google is satisfied with the state of its end-to-end software, it will roll it out as a plugin for its web browser, Chrome.