georgie01

crowley said:

9secondkox2 said:

At the very least, when you sell people out, be honest about it. 

Apple aren't selling out.  There is no money being exchanged for their child abuses initiatives …  The "privacy invasions" of Apple amount to checking that you aren't committing a heinous crime, and when a piece of on-device code that exists solely for that purpose determines that you aren't, you go on your way, totally unaffected…

Culturally speaking, ‘selling out’ is a term used when someone disregards integrity, morals, etc. for some superficial gain. Money is not the only potential gain.

This ‘privacy invasion’ by Apple which you effectively describe as petty, is the equivalent of a door manufacturer implementing some technology into the front door you purchased for your house so they can easily send in a robot to scan your personal belongings for any child sex imagery.

Your government is not filled with basically good people who usually have your best interests at heart. The majority of people in government, however well intentioned, are driven by power. You think any humble person has ever become President? Just the desire to be president is the desire for power. Our privacy rights need to be fiercely protected even when they don’t make sense, because there are people who will fight to get more power.

crowley said:

rcfa said:

It’s none of the inventor’s business if it’s used for good or not! It’s SOLELY the USERs responsibility.

Horseshit, take some responsibility for the things you create.

rcfa said it’s the user’s responsibility…

Having government or big tech surveilling you is the opposite of taking responsibility. An increasing percentage of the population doesn’t understand what personal responsibility even is and what it means to give others space to express their own personal responsibility. There will be criminals, but there will be more criminals as people forget what personal responsibility is due to us not allowing people to learn what it is.

mike_galloway said:

…our ability to say, post or store online what we want without consequence has gone too far.

I wish people had enough knowledge of history to see how scary what you’ve said sounds. Yes there are problems, some big ones (such as CSAM), but the US and it’s principles have done so well that people have no meaningful awareness of the cost and what about it made things so (relatively) good. The idea of living under a dictatorship doesn’t even concern many people as long as they agree with what is being dictated. The past 17 months prove that about many people in this US.

The reality is that freedom must be fiercely protected. While there are many people who don’t understand this, there are many people who do. And that’s why we’re seeing the pushback against Apple’s surveillance technology. I’m glad there are still people in higher profile organisations who see it.

entropys said:

Riiiight.

Translation: Here at Apple, we might have created a back door, but we promise to only ever use it for good. Pinky swear!

The pettiness of Apple’s response is obvious.

Apple has clearly shown governments they are willing to scan data directly on a user’s device. That’s not inconsequential.

What if Apple decides next year to join the ‘misinformation’ bandwagon, for the ‘good of the people’?  What if the year after that they decide to aid in politics through monitoring communications about political issues and delivering that information to ‘independent’ political organisations, for the ‘good of the people’?

Those are hypotheticals of course, but Apple should keep far and away from anything that smells like where it could lead. An authoritarian government (which our government is smelling more and more like), or a tech industry controlling people, is worse for a population than CSAM.

Anyone who believes this will be limited to child pornography is beyond naive.

This is how ‘overreach’ is accomplished. You can look at the government’s coronavirus response to see exactly how it’s done. Little by little the authoritarian approach is put in our faces, the initial public outrage mostly passes away, and many of the population accept it—but not because of independent thought.

Even those who mean well fall into the trap.  I do believe Apple means well here. But little by little those seeking power break down resistance. America has done so well that many in the population have little meaningful understanding of the reasons for liberty, freedom, and checks and balances. They believe there aren’t powerful people actively working to effectively enslave them, and succeeding.

For the first time in 28 years I’m considering leaving Apple products. Child pornography is disgusting and an outrage, but overreach of power is currently running rampant in the US and that will eventually ruin an entire country.