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Me neither. I was about to upgrade to iPhone 13 and now I'm researching android AOSP forks focused on privacy like GrapheneOS, e.Foundation, CalyxOS, etc.. I prefer to have a Pixel 4 ou 5 phone with a degoogled Android version than having my phone scanned without my authorization just because I want my photos stored on the cloud. I will stand against this and probably leave all the apple ecosystem that I have in my family. 4 iPhones, 1 ipad, 2 apple watches and this macbook that I'm writing on I'll move to microsoft windows or linux.
I am sure we are not the only ones. I have a number of people who follow my lead on this also. I am not even opposed to straight Android, like a Samsung, with steps taken to keep Google out of a lot of it. At least you know what you're getting without a lot of empty promises. Going to try a Synology NAS cloud server solution, which supposedly has many of the same features as iCloud, Photos, and Dropbox. We'll see.
 
Countries like S. Korea already forced Apple to allow third party payments on the app store by law. All China needed to do is make some law about it and Apple will have no choice to concede if they want to continue doing business in China. And Apple will have no recourse as they set up the system in place themselves to be exploited.
THIS!! This is the money quote right there. Seventeen pages in, and finally brilliant, irrefutable logic is evident. And don't think that it will necessarily be bad old China that forces the issue. It could happen in the U.S. just as easily. The Department of Justice has been hungering for a back door, lo, these many years.
 
From what I have read, I don't think you have this right. In this scheme, there is a database of "hashes" downloaded to every device and every photo on your device is scanned for matches (with iCloud photos enabled, which most users have). All a totalitarian government would have to do is quietly demand that Apple add some additional hashes to the algorithm and report any matches back to the government. No one would detect it because the hash files are hidden from examination. That's how easy it would be.
Yup. And if Apple can be forced to even adjust their policy on in app store payments by local laws (where Apple was so adamant about their original policy), Apple can be easily forced to bend over for this as well. It will be simply a matter of time until governments of the world caught up.

The key is to not have such system to begin with, just like ios14 and older.
 
Err, the fact that Apple has a system set up so your device can do hashes scanning locally to be matched to the cloud already speaks for itself. Prior to this, Apple could say to countries like China to pound sand. But with this system in place, Apple has no excuses. All China needed to do is to have a law forcing Apple to put in their hashes database. Apple wouldn't know what's in them either. And since icloud servers for China are already within China (and falls under Chinese law), it would be foolish if you think this system cannot be exploited. And I'm sure Apple still wants to do business there so they will surely accommodate whatever required by their laws.
If Apple could say to countries like China to pound sound before, why couldn't they tell them to pound sand now? -- I don't understand the "no excuse" argument --- is it because the technology exists that is able to match things? Local scanning and semantically tagging of all your data already happens, and it would be an easy thing to include semantic tags in payload to a government that is requiring it of you (if you're willing to cooperate with their demands).

As you've pointed out, China already hosts iCloud data for Chinese citizens, so they already can scan everything there --- why would they need Apple to do it for them?
From what I have read, I don't think you have this right. In this scheme, there is a database of "hashes" downloaded to every device and every photo on your device is scanned for matches (with iCloud photos enabled, which most users have). All a totalitarian government would have to do is quietly demand that Apple add some additional hashes to the algorithm and report any matches back to the government. No one would detect it because the hash files are hidden from examination. That's how easy it would be.
"All China/totalitarian governments have to do is force/demand Apple add additional hashes."

You're missing the point. They can insert additional hashes all they want (presuming Apple concedes), but the system wouldn't match it unless another jurisdiction also added those hashes. Further, you would need to have exact matches of the hashed images that they (and another likely non-cooperative jurisdiction) added.
 
That scanning is done on-device, and never leaves the device. It is done independently on each device you own, and not sent up to any cloud services (though the photos themselves do get passed up and down the cloud). The hashing and scanning they propose is actually required to maintain privacy. I acknowledge the scheme is clever, and does provide privacy protection if done as they lay out. But I oppose having any surveillance framework on a device that I've paid good money for.
You assume it "never leaves the device" because of Apples rhetoric on the subject. If you'd believe that they already aren't surveilling you now, then why are their assertions about this technology not given the same grain-of-salt?
 
Yup. And if Apple can be forced to even adjust their policy on in app store payments by local laws (where Apple was so adamant about their original policy), Apple can be easily forced to bend over for this as well. It will be simply a matter of time until governments of the world caught up.

The key is to not have such system to begin with, just like ios14 and older.
They should probably also not have systems to semantically tag everything else on your phone. That would be key to avoiding important (and much more likely) surveillance vectors.
 
If Apple could say to countries like China to pound sound before, why couldn't they tell them to pound sand now? -- I don't understand the "no excuse" argument --- is it because the technology exists that is able to match things? Local scanning and semantically tagging of all your data already happens, and it would be an easy thing to include semantic tags in payload to a government that is requiring it of you (if you're willing to cooperate with their demands).

As you've pointed out, China already hosts iCloud data for Chinese citizens, so they already can scan everything there --- why would they need Apple to do it for them?

"All China/totalitarian governments have to do is force/demand Apple add additional hashes."

You're missing the point. They can insert additional hashes all they want (presuming Apple concedes), but the system wouldn't match it unless another jurisdiction also added those hashes. Further, you would need to have exact matches of the hashed images that they (and another likely non-cooperative jurisdiction) added.
The current system has no in device scanning to be transmitted to the cloud. All metada scans on current iPhones are local only. The server side scanning is only server side. This new system breaks that wall. With local device scanning capable of uploading the matches to the cloud.

And all you are saying are Apple's own policy. We already see how Apple can be forced to change their policy by local laws. Apple's pinky promise holds no ground when they themselves can be forced to allow third party payments for in app purchases, something that Apple was so adamant defending.
 
You assume it "never leaves the device" because of Apples rhetoric on the subject. If you'd believe that they already aren't surveilling you now, then why are their assertions about this technology not given the same grain-of-salt?
Because I agree completely with @ian87w 's logic, to wit, once Apple publicly acknowledge that they have a surveillance system in place they will be open to legal pressure to put it to use for other ends. I can't do anything about whether they may or may not have a secret surveillance system in place now, but I can see increased risk for privacy and security if they go down the path of on-device scanning.
 
it has nothing to do with kiddie porn and everything to do with Apple thinking it can scan private property and become Mr f**king policeman.
This is NOT how you reliably detect kiddie porn.
When one actually deep dived into the problem, one will know that this is not the solution. Plenty of experts in the field already said that this system won't do much. Thus it begs the question why Apple is so Gung Ho about it.
 
But there is something we can do about it. Turn off iCloud Photos if we're uncomfortable with it. Meanwhile, I'll continue using it because it's a non-issue for me. If you saw my photo library, it's all stupid stuff. I have nothing to feel worried about, so I don't worry.
So, you would be OK with the police coming into your home anytime, or all the time, just because you "have nothing to feel worried about"? Maybe they could just place an officer in your home permanently just in case you do something wrong. This is exactly WHY the Founders put the 4th Amendment in the Bill of Rights. Just because the government is having Apple do their searching for them doesn't make it any better.
 
The current system has no in device scanning to be transmitted to the cloud. All metada scans on current iPhones are local only. The server side scanning is only server side. This new system breaks that wall. With local device scanning capable of uploading the matches to the cloud.
Do you really know that for a fact, though? Why is it you can trust the current scanning processes, but not the ones Apple’s put in place for CSAM? Who’s to say Apple hasn’t been receiving metadata about your photos this whole time? I mean, people completely trusted Apple with Siri until it came out that people were actually listening in on your conversations, so…
 
I bet this will be canceled quietly in a few months. The backlash was huge, it’s not worth the bad PR for Apple. It was a bad idea from the start and I’m glad Apple is now doing the right thing.
Let's hope. The thing is, the database is baked into ios15. Until Apple actually announced the removal of the database, I wouldn't trust ios15.
 
The lack of backbone by Apple on some of these controversial situations they find themselves in is just astonishing to me. A massive corporate structure like that....get your crap together and then make your announcement. And then stick with it. There will always be backlash, some segment of people are always going to have a problem with a decision you make. But damn.....game that out on the front in before you put yourself out there and then ultimately run away with your tail between your legs when people make a big enough stink about what you did.
The new "woke" hires at Apple don't think that anyone, especially those lame USERS, have the right to interfere with pushing their agenda. That's the problem here, I think. No "insanely great products," just social justice now.
 
The thing is, the bulk of child porn is consumed in the US and produced in Japan and the Philippines. China culturally does not sexualize children. Neither did Japan, actually, until the anime and rorikon (lolita obsession) kicked in. This is a relatively recent social phenomenon. The US soldiers stationed in the Philippines are the biggest consumer of, not child porn, but child prostitution.

I researched this extensively when I vacationed in the Philippines and Thailand. I was appalled by the treatment of women and the condition of children there. Thailand was much better in comparison, but they have the issue of "transgender freak show". Boys of poor families are being sold off to be neutered and end up in circuses as ladyboys. those ladyboys don't just show you their bits and what they got and entertain you. They do things that are truly damaging to their bodies. Therefore, they only live a very short life. For example, things they inject to keep them look a certain way, and when they do their freak show, think about stainless steel ping-pong balls coming out of places that are not supposed to host 8 ping-pong balls. I will leave you to imaging the rest, and the type of freak show they do.

Edit:

To clarify, lolita is generally regarded as around 14 years old girls. Rorikon is much younger, around preteen girls.
Each country have their own standards. I'm not going to criticize other countries since my own has bizarre moral laws. The important thing to me is a tech company shouldn't be the moral police for anyone.
 
I hope they at least keep the parental control part where parents can have it prescreen messages sent to their young kids. That might even be useful for adults who don't want unsolicited imagery. It's just the CSAM part that's controversial.

Now that I can deal with. That’s a feature I do want them to roll out.
 
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I hope they at least keep the parental control part where parents can have it prescreen messages sent to their young kids. That might even be useful for adults who don't want unsolicited imagery. It's just the CSAM part that's controversial.
Agree. The iMessage feature is also opt in, unlike this CSAM scanning.
 
Good. Why they thought this feature was a good idea in the first place is beyond me. I understand the intent, but we don’t need our own devices self reporting us to law enforcement. There will be bugs and false positives. I don’t need the cops showing up at my doo or even worse, at work assuming I’m a pedo because a programmers in California made an error.

If privacy is your supposed claim to fame and a big reason why you pay the Apple Tax you better offer what I’m paying for. These “features” are the opposite. There’s spyware for sale out there that can pwn your phone by sending you a text message. Apple should focus on fixing that. What if somebody with band intentions uses that to upload images to your phone that you are not aware of? What if your significant other has bad intentions and knows you iPhone password or if you don’t have one and they get their hands on it. What if some random stranger has an opportunity to grab your phone while you don’t have it and decides to mess with you? You don’t think that happens? See the guy who deliberately left a bunch of COVID-19 Pfizer vaccines out of the refrigerator so they’d spoil. There are nut jobs out there.

If you really care about privacy then your phone, nor any service you hawk that integrates with it, should ever self-report anything to the cops. If the police suspect you’re guilty of a crime they need evidence to prove probably cause and then have to go before a judge to get a warrant. This eliminates that important check on government power. How many judges would say no to an arrest warrant if your phone is self-reporting you’re a pedo? Zero. That’s how many.
 
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If you have a i-Device, open up your photos app and look at the search icon on the bottom right (at least on my iPhone). Upon click it, you'll see a prompt to search for <Photos, People, Place...>. Go ahead and search for something. On same i-Device, from the home screen, swipe down, and start typing something --- results show up nearly instantly. The fact that you can search for these things is a result from your phone scanning your content and semantically tagging it. This is all built into iOS.
None of that reports to the government, which is what the CSAM stuff does and hence the difference. One is for your personal benefit, the other is to turn you in.
 
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