Shocking how many people do not want this feature and seem keen to protect the rights of pedophiles
“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
I doubt the right to not have your photographs blind checked against a child abuse hash dataset before being checked into a privately run online storage library is what Benjamin Franklin had in mind when he was talking about "essential liberty".
In a Twitter thread Monday, Corellium COO and security specialist Matt Tait detailed why the government couldn't just modify the database maintained by the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to find non-CSAM images in Apple's cloud storage. For one, Tait pointed out that NCMEC is not part of the government. Instead, it's a private nonprofit entity with special legal privileges to receive CSAM tips.
I don’t recall anyone arguing that though. There is no need for that. This is more that a government actor can force Apple to use the OS feature that uses the hash to be used for other databases, other purposes to identify people it doesn’t like. Not CSAM. Whoever the evil bastard that came up with “won’t someone think of the children” as the McGuffin for this outrageous bit of overreach deserves a medal. A Big Brother medal.
This could not be more literally about children. You have absolutely no evidence that there is any motivation for this beyond what Apple has publicly stated. Calling an attempt to help reduce child abuse, and the circulation of child abuse material a "McGuffin" is in very bad taste indeed.
Didn’t the NSA violate the 4th amendment when it was caught spying on American citizens who were not suspects of committing terrorism?
The surveillance you’re referring to, pursuant to section 702 of the FISA Act, targeted foreign nationals, not “American citizens.” However, the controversy lies in that some of the communications included US citizens on the other end. Common sense will tell you (well maybe not you) that when you are intercepting communications to or from a criminal, some of those communications will be lawful and will not involve co conspirators. In such cases, law enforcement is required to discontinue monitoring that communication, and section 702, specifically required the NSA to do that.
In a Twitter thread Monday, Corellium COO and security specialist Matt Tait detailed why the government couldn't just modify the database maintained by the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to find non-CSAM images in Apple's cloud storage. For one, Tait pointed out that NCMEC is not part of the government. Instead, it's a private nonprofit entity with special legal privileges to receive CSAM tips.
I don’t recall anyone arguing that though. There is no need for that. This is more that a government actor can force Apple to use the OS feature that uses the hash to be used for other databases, other purposes to identify people it doesn’t like. Not CSAM. Whoever the evil bastard that came up with “won’t someone think of the children” as the McGuffin for this outrageous bit of overreach deserves a medal. A Big Brother medal.
This could not be more literally about children. You have absolutely no evidence that there is any motivation for this beyond what Apple has publicly stated. Calling an attempt to help reduce child abuse, and the circulation of child abuse material a "McGuffin" is in very bad taste indeed.
It doesn't matter if Apple is 100% truthful and says this is only l for th children etc. It doesn't change the fact that they've installed the plumbing that can be easily changed to do a million other things. Policies change. Leadership changes. What Apple says today is irrelevant tomorrow.
And btw. The Franklin quote is exactly relevant and the sort of thing he had in mind (not that he could foresee today's technology for the specific example). At the time he was talking about governmental intrusions and illusionary safety and Apple is obviously not the government. But by laying the foundation they make it really easy for the government to repurose their "good cause work against child abuse" into something else.
First, the US government keeps twisting and reinterpreting what it means, and…
second, and most importantly, the world doesn’t end at the US border, despite the incredible myopic world view of some people.
Russia, China, etc. are in no way bound by the US constitution, and they may simply give Apple the choice between complying with new laws or exiting their lucrative markets.
Just the ridiculousness of arguing with the US constitution in the context of a global corporation … unbelievable…
It is relatively easy to conclusively identify pedophile content than to identify terrorist content. If Apple could detect terrorist content conclusively, I am sure they would be off of iCloud as well.
Wanting to keep identifiably illegal content off of a storage service is the right thing to do. I hope other storage services follow suit.
This is a ridiculous thing to say, and incredibly naive.
In China having pictures of the Dalai Lama or even Winnie the Pooh on your phone can get you in trouble. One is considered an enemy of the state for fighting non-violently for an autonomous Tibet and religious freedom for Tibetan Buddhism, the other is used to mock the “Dear Leader“ Xi Jinping. In Russia having pictures of Navalni, a prominent critic, may draw the attention of the FSB or its internal equivalent.
The world isn’t cuddly, there are no safe spaces, once privacy is eroded.
Comments
And btw. The Franklin quote is exactly relevant and the sort of thing he had in mind (not that he could foresee today's technology for the specific example). At the time he was talking about governmental intrusions and illusionary safety and Apple is obviously not the government. But by laying the foundation they make it really easy for the government to repurose their "good cause work against child abuse" into something else.
https://www.infoworld.com/article/2615857/hollywood-whodunit--what-s-eating-emails-in-icloud-.html
The main objection seems to be running the scan on the phone. Smells too much like spyware, no matter how Cupertino tries to spin it.
First, the US government keeps twisting and reinterpreting what it means, and…
second, and most importantly, the world doesn’t end at the US border, despite the incredible myopic world view of some people.
Russia, China, etc. are in no way bound by the US constitution, and they may simply give Apple the choice between complying with new laws or exiting their lucrative markets.
Just the ridiculousness of arguing with the US constitution in the context of a global corporation … unbelievable…
In China having pictures of the Dalai Lama or even Winnie the Pooh on your phone can get you in trouble. One is considered an enemy of the state for fighting non-violently for an autonomous Tibet and religious freedom for Tibetan Buddhism, the other is used to mock the “Dear Leader“ Xi Jinping.
In Russia having pictures of Navalni, a prominent critic, may draw the attention of the FSB or its internal equivalent.
The world isn’t cuddly, there are no safe spaces, once privacy is eroded.