It doesn’t help when people are confused about what this does. But it also doesn’t help when people ignore what it does because “Think of the children!!” Like this article.
Bottom line, is it has created a mechanism to identify people that have a list of specified imagery on their phone. Kiddie fiddlers to start, who could argue against that? Next up imagery that a less liberal government doesn’t like. And I mean liberal in the traditional sense, not the type the big brother acolytes in America who have usurped that term have claimed.
and now Apple can’t back down despite the considerable blow back. Because “Won’t someone think of the children!!” McGuffin to implement it has Apple trapped like a fly in amber.
but it can’t claim it protects your privacy anymore.
Considering that unless you have this material on your iPhone, the company still doesn't have any information at all about your photos, it absolutely can.
What this article does is ignore hypothetical situations that are being used by folks. What this article also does is discuss how the system doesn't do anything like what the German journalists (who use Gmail accounts, by the way) claim it does. What it does not do is validate your opinion on the matter, and that's fine -- but not a shortcoming in any way.
Apple has already bent their policies to China’s will, and will continue to do so. What IS hypothetical is to say “I’ll bet this or that happens.” What is NOT hypothetical is to note that China and other countries have already bent Apple to their own will on Apple Maps, privacy issues (servers have to be physically in China, where government can physically access them), etc. Is it more hypothetical to say that China WILL demand abuse of these new capabilities? Or more hypothetical to say that they won’t? This will open a door that can’t easily be closed. No amount of gaslighting is going to make intelligent people believe otherwise.
Apple is not going to abandon sales in China in order to hold true to some policy-based principles. They have already proven that.
Well, this is the real concern.
The problem with the “Wait and see” attitude is that it’s often too late to do anything when eventually happens. Then the “wait and see” brigade quickly turns into the “well, it’s happened now; we’ll have to just live with it.”
The best option is to look at the track record of the bodies involved and work out the likelihood of the worst case occurring. Since we know Apple abandon its privacy stance in China rather than risk the wrath of the ruling party then I don’t really think the “worst case” can be dismissed easily.
But something does seem a little off here. The desperation that Apple is showing is unusual for the company: rolling out the hair model, ad hoc changes that won’t really make any difference … This has to happen, no matter what.
The message they’re trying make stick is that client-side spyware isn’t an invasion of privacy.
The message they’re trying make stick is that client-side spyware isn’t an invasion of privacy.
It's probably the smallest invasion of privacy imaginable while still taking a responsible position on CSAM. Apple have bent over backwards to ensure that their system is respectful of your privacy, and that they are transparent about what they are doing.
Can you imagine what folk would be saying if Google were doing this?
Google already does in Gmail. As does Dropbox, Microsoft, Twitter, etc... Nobody allows images to be stored on their servers w/o scanning to ensure it isn't child porn. Microsoft has PhotoDNA, and Google has its own tools:
This "BUT WHAT IF THE OS CHANGES IN THE FUTURE!" hysteria is stupid, since Apple *could* also send any sort of spyware into iPhones today and you'd never know it. Technically they could do this today. But of course they never would because it would destroy their business.
Can you imagine what folk would be saying if Google were doing this?
We already know what folks would say -- nothing. They've been doing it for over a decade with fewer privacy protections and safeguards.
It comes across oddly to me that AppleInside seems to be landing on the side of supporting this spyware on our personal devices, claiming it won’t be abused, etc. No-one can responsibly say that. If a large country makes it LAW that Apple has to allow that government to abuse this system, Apple will fold, rather than pull out of the country and lose all that income to a competitor.
Can you imagine what folk would be saying if Google were doing this?
We already know what folks would say -- nothing. They've been doing it for over a decade with fewer privacy protections and safeguards.
It comes across oddly to me that AppleInside seems to be landing on the side of supporting this spyware on our personal devices, claiming it won’t be abused, etc. No-one can responsibly say that. If a large country makes it LAW that Apple has to allow that government to abuse this system, Apple will fold, rather than pull out of the country and lose all that income to a competitor.
But yet, this hasn't happened in the 14 years that the system has been in play with every other company including the originating Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Dropbox, and others. Our stance is neither for nor against it. We have discussed what the system does and how it works, we have discussed that Apple still knows nothing about the photos that it is hashing, and that is the extent of our stance on the matter.
Nobody can responsibly say that the worst-case scenario is guaranteed or even probable, and we addressed some potential dangers in our original piece on this matter.
I wonder if investigative journalists might come into the possession of illegal pornographic content as part of their investigations of, say, abuse cases and would be flagged by the system, thereby hindering their work. However, it does make me wonder why they would use a consumer platform such as iCloud if they work on such sensitive issues.
You think they’d be stupid enough to upload such material to their iCloud Photo Library? Not once have I ever accidentally done so with any work-related images.
Apple should just put the mess in the cloud, then it would not scan private data on user devices (what is prohibited in many countries).
Your iCloud Photos Library is encrypted on the server. You’re asking for them to decrypt your data on the server which is mind blowing if you’re concerned about privacy!
Comments
The best option is to look at the track record of the bodies involved and work out the likelihood of the worst case occurring. Since we know Apple abandon its privacy stance in China rather than risk the wrath of the ruling party then I don’t really think the “worst case” can be dismissed easily.
https://www.heise.de/meinung/Kommentar-Apples-CSAM-Scans-Ein-Tabubruch-der-in-die-Totalueberwachung-fuehrt-6166219.html
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/photodna
https://protectingchildren.google/intl/en/
This "BUT WHAT IF THE OS CHANGES IN THE FUTURE!" hysteria is stupid, since Apple *could* also send any sort of spyware into iPhones today and you'd never know it. Technically they could do this today. But of course they never would because it would destroy their business.
I am sure more will follow from other countries.
Apple should just put the mess in the cloud, then it would not scan private data on user devices (what is prohibited in many countries).
Currently it's just a spyware / backdoor completely controlled by a company – this is just illegal (and dangerous if it gets hacked - think Pegasus).
Nobody can responsibly say that the worst-case scenario is guaranteed or even probable, and we addressed some potential dangers in our original piece on this matter.