iCloud spam filter to blame for auto-deletion of emails containing pornographic phrase

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  • Reply 21 of 52

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by oomu View Post



    "Other services, like Google's Gmail, Yahoo Mail or Microsoft's Outlook, are not known to have such measures in place.

    "



    WHAT ?


     


    It's almost certain that google deletes some spam silently.


     


    We ran our own mail server at work for a while and the flood of spam is amazing. We used spamassassin to rate each email and sieve to silently drop the worst, place in-between in a spam folder and put everything else in the inbox.


     


    We have since moved to Google Apps (with gmail). Google does a first rate job of putting only spam in the spam folder. I've never had spam in the inbox. I've never had false positives in the spam folder. However, the amount in the spam folder is MUCH less than I would expect knowing what was going to those same email addresses previously. I assume they use the same tiered sorting system, but much more advanced.


     


    It looks like Apple screwed up. Like maps, they took on a difficult task and did not get it right the first time. That's not totally unexpected, but it appears to be happening more often. Using customers as beta testers is not a good thing, but it seems to be an industry standard these days, even with Apple.

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  • Reply 22 of 52
    Sounds like they hired some Chinese to do the filtering.
    Bad word -> Filter!
    Good word -> Pass!
    Not sure? -> Filter!
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  • Reply 23 of 52

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by irnchriz View Post



    It's about time Apple upped its filtering. I noticed a dramatic decrease in spam on iCloud over the last couple of weeks after the recent massive increase in spam.


     


     


    I've gotten tons of spam supposedly from You Tube and Face Book...  a quick look at the sender's address shows a different address each time.


     


    Wish Apple could stop those...

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  • Reply 24 of 52
    jakebjakeb Posts: 563member


    If the customer feels that a legitimate message is blocked, we encourage customers to report it to AppleCare and explain they trying to send an email about a "barely legal teen". 

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  • Reply 25 of 52
    Doesn't "barely legal teen" mean that the teen is "legal?" Then why should it be filtered out? I am so confused.
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  • Reply 26 of 52
    gatorguy wrote: »
    Huh. So Apple scans users email, including "taking a peek" at whatever was written in the body of them.<img alt="1hmm.gif" id="user_yui_3_7_3_1_1362095869137_1312" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies/1hmm.gif" style="line-height:1.231;" name="user_yui_3_7_3_1_1362095869137_1312">

    In no way is filtering out potential spam with keywords the same as directed ads and content analytics.

    Same goes for Google's spam filtering which was still better years ago than Apple's is today, albeit Apple's is considerably better than the MobileMe days and is pretty nearly complete, just not as good as Google's overall.
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  • Reply 27 of 52
    elrothelroth Posts: 1,201member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post



    In what universe does the subject line containing "barely legal teen" sent from someone you do not know mean anything other than spam? It's probably a true positive match for spam more often than a false positive.


    I agree with your point, but it brings up the question of what other phrases Apple is filtering out. It seems like this one was discovered by coincidence - there could be hundreds more that nobody knows about.

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  • Reply 28 of 52
    lerxtlerxt Posts: 186member
    Barely legal teen is pornographic? BS. Suddenly ive lost confidence in icloud mai.
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  • Reply 29 of 52
    RSC 8403-613-0-0-8-5, the universe of nothing but 18-year-old girls on their birthday. You're born as an 18-year-old girl, it is always your birthday, and then you die as an 18-year-old girl on your 18th birthday.

    It's a sick scene, man.

    Sounds like a Japanese anime of a Philip K Dick story.
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  • Reply 30 of 52
    elroth wrote: »
    I agree with your point, but it brings up the question of what other phrases Apple is filtering out. It seems like this one was discovered by coincidence - there could be hundreds more that nobody knows about.

    Think about what you're saying: if any non-spam phrases have been deleted how come nobody has complained before?
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  • Reply 31 of 52
    phone-ui-guyphone-ui-guy Posts: 1,019member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    Apple needs to get on top of this. I definitely need to make sure that I'm receiving all of the "barely legal teen" emails that might be addressed to me.


     


    As far as I'm concerned, people who like the "barely legal teen" category should not be subjected to unfair and unlawful discrimination, especially by a company who has recently come out in full support of gay marriage. 



     


    This^^^^


     


    Besides, what is wrong with "barely legal teen"? Key word is "legal". I'm all for them stopping illegal teen pr0n. 

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  • Reply 32 of 52
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member


    Dear Apple,


     


    Thanks for making a moral judgement, on my behalf, without my even knowing about it.


     


    Also thanks for deciding for me, which emails I need to see and which I don't, without my even knowing about it.


     


    ---


     


    I wonder how people would feel about the Royal Mail opening all our letters and deciding whether we should see them? Maybe just bin the letters they don't think we should see?

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  • Reply 33 of 52
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member


    I've never heard of an email service that completely erases received emails and even sent emails based on a word chain. What's worrying is that if this system is in place other sequences of words my trigger the same mechanism. It's probably just a bug.

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  • Reply 34 of 52
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,769member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post





    In no way is filtering out potential spam with keywords the same as directed ads and content analytics.


    BOTH are doing "content analytics" Soli. BOTH are auto-scanning user emails including headers and content, BOTH are searching specific keywords/phrases found in them to prompt an action. While one deletes emails based on content and the other uses content to help companies deliver pertinent ads, both are getting there using the same general methods.  It's not even assured that Apple doesn't log potential ad keywords too is it, or that Google never deletes email?


     


    Neither has a person at a desk reading your emails, giggling, and taking notes. 

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  • Reply 35 of 52
    eddykeddyk Posts: 7member
    Some content, clearly not pornographic by any means is also filtered on iCloud without leaving any trace.
    See for example Macintouch on the subject about a mail concerning an exhibition of persian art.
    This is unacceptable.
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  • Reply 36 of 52
    MacPromacpro Posts: 19,873member
    Maybe Apple is secretly part of Echelon. .....
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  • Reply 37 of 52
    MacPromacpro Posts: 19,873member
    This^^^^

    Besides, what is wrong with "barely legal teen"? Key word is "legal". I'm all for them stopping illegal teen pr0n. 

    I wouldn't be replying to anyone comparing child porn to equal rights for gay and lesbian couples if I were you (referring to he whom you replied to not you :)). He is certifiably bigoted and always has been in this forum.
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  • Reply 38 of 52
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,769member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post





    Think about what you're saying: if any non-spam phrases have been deleted how come nobody has complained before?


    http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/mobileme/topic4953-009.html#d28feb2013

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  • Reply 39 of 52
    Wow! Apple needs to get out of the business of being a nanny.
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  • Reply 40 of 52


    What about 'Squirting Midget'???

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