But Apple only plans to scan photos that are synced with iCloud, don't they? So you could just switch to an E2E encrypted alternative and drop iCloud completely.
I have to remind again, that iOS is a blackbox, closed source system. All this speculation applies also for a moment before they added anything. They might have had this code ready for years already. All we have is what they say. It is already very trivial to scan everything on on your device and send that metadata. Few lines of code. At the moment when they say about scanning everything in phone publicly without opt-out, then we should be worried. Once again, there is no way telling what they are doing already.
This is not the first time they have run into this - due the to AppStore being a walled garden they are the sole gate keeper who decides what goes in and what not. Makes sure the users are safe and everything. Perfect, right ?
Well, until protesters want to use an app in the store to coordinate their protests yet the government wants you to reject it, so the protesters can't use it:
With users not being able to install the app themselves Apple is the single point of failure with no plausible deniability like Android (any any sane OS in general) has. And they did reject the app.
And just a few months before this happened I attended a talk about free software from FSF and they mentioned just the same thing about iOS and the gate keeper being the single point of failure a repressive regime can apply pressure on. Turned on to not be far fetched at all...
iOS has been running complex Neural Nets on all your images for years now. It powers all their social features and search.
Apple have always had the capability, and have been advertising it as central selling point of new versions of iOS for years. That ship sailed along time ago.
What changed is Apple just signaled to the governments of the world what it's willing to do toward abusing user privacy and exactly how it can work. And hey, Apple, if you're willing to do that, why not just go a bit further and do this, because we're asking you to or else (and now we know you're obviously even more morally flexible than what you used to present yourself as).
Before that, Apple put up a front that they would fight for user privacy at every turn. They pitched that over and over and over again as a corporate ethos, a selling point. That was the facade at least, even if one is cynical and wants to pretend it was a lie. Now they're not even presenting the facade, which will open the flood gates dramatically. They went from a supposedly resisting agent, to a morally gray and willing agent at a minimum. Apple dumped an enormous vat of blood into the shark infested waters.
I think I disagree. Current move was improvement for user privacy, compared to what it used to be. Abuse is only on speculation, not on what has actually been done.
I think its more than that. images sent with iMessage are stored in iCloud, even if the device is not necessarily uploading.
How else would that have such warnings they claim in their announcement. [1]
And we have seen these systems have their scope/use case changed in the past [2]
To the point in the other discussion [3]. OP stated that Apples plans to scan and then upload suspected images are illegal. But i would think that they are only scanning images, client side, that users themselves are attempting to upload (either though attachments, or automatic iCloud backups etc) which would put Apple in the clear. In this case that would be iCloud images, or those that piggyback iCloud services like iMessage etc.
Stop repeating this lie. iMessages photos are not part of this. This is written in the technical document. This is only photos from iCloud photos.
It's been debunked, just read this article:
https://daringfireball.net/2021/08/apple_child_safety_initia...
And of course the scope could change tomorrow. Just like the scope of Android could change tomorrow. They could even have changed the scope without doing an announcement!
In my comment history it clearly shows that there's an effort to parse through the information and seek clarity.
And its worth noting that iMessage data is and can be backed up to iCloud, and not just using backups. For many with multiple devices this is specifically useful.
>And of course the scope could change tomorrow. Just like the scope of Android could change tomorrow. They could even have changed the scope without doing an announcement!
I am pointing out that there is a specific history of this already on record and documented. And their technical documents specifically state their intentions.
"This program is ambitious, and protecting children is an important responsibility. Our efforts will evolve and expand over time"
I don't understand why you find such an observation so offensive. Its pretty clear Apple sees this as a first step into what will eventually be a much larger program.
