At the moment it is still unclear as to when Google’s Android L will be released to the masses. It has been speculated that maybe a release in October could be in the cards, but either way we guess we’ll just have to wait and see. That being said, if you’re looking forward to the update, you might be interested to learn that Android L will come encrypted by default.
This is according to a report from The Washington Post who confirmed via Google spokeswoman Niki Christoff. It seems that Google is apparently following in the footsteps of Apple in which only you will have access to your device. This means that your phone’s passcode will only be known to you and not even Google can unlock it.
This definitely dampens law enforcement data requests because now if Google wants to comply and hand over your data to the feds, they will be unable to because they will not be able to unlock your device. Google claims that your keys/passcode will not be stored online and only on your device, so unless you tell someone else your passcode, it would be safe to say that no one will know what it is.
This is in response to governments who are starting to increase the amount of user data requests, which Google themselves detailed in a report quite recently. Of course if you choose to store your data in the cloud and on Google’s servers, then Google will have access to your data, but if you choose to store your data locally, well it looks like the feds are out of luck.