Apple is being sued over its decision not to implement a system that would have scanned iCloud photos for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The lawsuit
The files WILL be scanned the second they leave your device to any major cloud.
There are services with e2e and you can encrypt before uploading to those who can’t.
Realistically speaking, if this was implement anybody with CSAM would just not use iPhones, and all scanning would be done on everyone else.
Then, once implemented and with less fanfare some authoritarian regimes (won’t say any to not upset the tankies) can ask apple to scan for other material too… And as it’s closed source we wouldn’t even know that the models are different by country.
There’s a difference here in principle. Exemplified by the answer to this question:
“Do you expect that things you store somewhere are kept private?”
Where, Private means: “No one looks at your things.”
Where, No One means: not a single person or machine.
This is the core argument. In the world, things stored somewhere are often still considered private. (Safe Deposit box).
People take this expectation into the cloud. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Box, Dropbox etc - only made their scanning known publicly _after they were called out. They allowed their customers to _assume their files were private.
Second issue: Does just a simple machine looking at your files count as unprivate? And what if we Pinky Promise to make the machine not really really look at your files, and only like squinty eyed.
For many, yes this also counts as unprivate.
Its the process that is problematic. There is a difference between living in a free society, and one in which citizens have to produce papers when asked. A substantial difference. Having files unexamined and having them examined by an ‘innocuous’ machine, are substantial differences. The difference _is privacy. On one, you have a right to privacy. In the other you don’t.
an aside…
In our small village, a team sweeps every house during the day while people are out at work. In the afternoon you are informed that team found illegal paraphernalia in your house. You know you had none. What defense do you have?
The files WILL be scanned the second they leave your device to any major cloud.
If they don’t leave your device, then turning off iCloud (and thus the “back door”) wouldn’t have had any impact on you.
There are services with e2e and you can encrypt before uploading to those who can’t.
Realistically speaking, if this was implement anybody with CSAM would just not use iPhones, and all scanning would be done on everyone else.
Then, once implemented and with less fanfare some authoritarian regimes (won’t say any to not upset the tankies) can ask apple to scan for other material too… And as it’s closed source we wouldn’t even know that the models are different by country.
Just clearing up the argument.
There’s a difference here in principle. Exemplified by the answer to this question: “Do you expect that things you store somewhere are kept private?” Where, Private means: “No one looks at your things.” Where, No One means: not a single person or machine.
This is the core argument. In the world, things stored somewhere are often still considered private. (Safe Deposit box). People take this expectation into the cloud. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Box, Dropbox etc - only made their scanning known publicly _after they were called out. They allowed their customers to _assume their files were private.
Second issue: Does just a simple machine looking at your files count as unprivate? And what if we Pinky Promise to make the machine not really really look at your files, and only like squinty eyed. For many, yes this also counts as unprivate. Its the process that is problematic. There is a difference between living in a free society, and one in which citizens have to produce papers when asked. A substantial difference. Having files unexamined and having them examined by an ‘innocuous’ machine, are substantial differences. The difference _is privacy. On one, you have a right to privacy. In the other you don’t.
an aside…
In our small village, a team sweeps every house during the day while people are out at work. In the afternoon you are informed that team found illegal paraphernalia in your house. You know you had none. What defense do you have?