You know you do not have to update to iOS 15, right? Your phone will work exactly the way prior to iOS 15. It is entirely your choice and Apple have warned you in advance. iOS 15 will also be scanning text and numbers in our locally stored photos, remember? For privacy purists this is just as bad if not worse than CSAM. I personally will wait to see how this story goes and may stay on iOS 14. It’s not like iOS 15 introduces something incredible.
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Apple Outlines Security and Privacy of CSAM Detection System in New Document
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You know you do not have to update to iOS 15, right? Your phone will work exactly the way prior to iOS 15. It is entirely your choice and Apple have warned you in advance. iOS 15 will also be scanning text and numbers in our locally stored photos, remember? For privacy purists this is just as bad if not worse than CSAM. I personally will wait to see how this story goes and may stay on iOS 14. It’s not like iOS 15 introduces something incredible.
Why this feature is a huge breach of security even if it works flawlessly like apple designed it:
Earlier this year we got to know that a software written by Israeli spy agencies could exploit any iPhone silently through a bug in the messages app. It got under reported for some reason, but it is reasonable to assume that there are other softwares like that in the wild.
That means that anyone with access to such software could slip a tailored set of photos into your phone in the middle of the night while it syncs with iCloud and you’d have the feds at your door in the morning.
Being arrested as a pedophile is the perfect reputation ruiner for anyone being targeted by a government or hate groups.
Earlier this year we got to know that a software written by Israeli spy agencies could exploit any iPhone silently through a bug in the messages app. It got under reported for some reason, but it is reasonable to assume that there are other softwares like that in the wild.
That means that anyone with access to such software could slip a tailored set of photos into your phone in the middle of the night while it syncs with iCloud and you’d have the feds at your door in the morning.
Being arrested as a pedophile is the perfect reputation ruiner for anyone being targeted by a government or hate groups.
Something occurred to me. This is going to be implemented only on iPhones, meaning that someone can upload any number of illicit images to iCloud via a mac and they won’t know.
This is not about safeguarding their server or catching pedophiles, otherwise they would include macos and ipados. This is about something else. It must be.
little snitch or upcoming programs would be able to disable this feature on a mac and if third party store and side-loading comes to iphones the same will happen. Making this invasion of privacy even more ineffective.
Why is there such a strong push to shape how we think about digital privacy? Why shouldn’t privacy be expected on our digital devices as it is in our homes?
This is not about safeguarding their server or catching pedophiles, otherwise they would include macos and ipados. This is about something else. It must be.
little snitch or upcoming programs would be able to disable this feature on a mac and if third party store and side-loading comes to iphones the same will happen. Making this invasion of privacy even more ineffective.
Why is there such a strong push to shape how we think about digital privacy? Why shouldn’t privacy be expected on our digital devices as it is in our homes?
How do you think privacy came about? How do you think we came with laws protecting our privacy.
If there wouldn’t have been any uproar, our house and person might be up for random searches all the time.
Why don’t we get police dogs in every house every morning to check for drugs?
Why don’t we have person and luggage scanners before you go into public space. Heck why don’t we install device in your house to check for some arbitrary things?
I support privacy, but I also support rational analysis and reasoned discourse, they are not mutually exclusive - - in fact, they are allies.
"There have been people that suggest we should have a back door, but the reality is if you put the back door in, that back door is for everybody, for good guys and bad guys" - Tim Cook 2015
Have you watched Craig’s interview with WSJ? Please do, as it explains the process really well. A spoiler: a picture of a little toddler that had not been pre-marked on a CSAM database as child abuse image should not trigger any bells:
PS I think a wider area of concern is that, as many others were saying, if Apple can get away with planting the CSAM database on our devices now, coupled with scanning texts and numbers in our photos, how do we know that this will not be abused in the future? Say both Cook and Federighi leave Apple and somebody else, less privacy-oriented, takes over? This is what the various privacy advocates are worried about. Our privacy safeguards should not depend on the ever-changing will of people who come and go.
PS I think a wider area of concern is that, as many others were saying, if Apple can get away with planting the CSAM database on our devices now, coupled with scanning texts and numbers in our photos, how do we know that this will not be abused in the future? Say both Cook and Federighi leave Apple and somebody else, less privacy-oriented, takes over? This is what the various privacy advocates are worried about. Our privacy safeguards should not depend on the ever-changing will of people who come and go.
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It is a match of hash, not a scan, from a child porn database from NCMEC. No way this activate other way that your a pedophile.
Oh please. You want to talk about distasteful, check out the 22 pages of comments where people are mad that apple is trying to avoid hosting child porn on iCloud by comparing image hashes with a database of known child pornography 🙄Pfft, those don't seem like the only two options. Apple could indeed reverse course, if the bad PR eventually hurts their bottom line, share price, in which holding out on iOS/hardware upgrades makes perfect sense
BTW, that's a pretty distasteful thing to want to do, lol.
iOS and MacOS has been ‘scanning’ text and numbers in your emails, your files and every word you type for over a decade. A sinister surveillance tool called Spotlight scans all your files for trigger words like ‘bomb’, and ’insurrection’, and ‘Hillary’, and all the other words too. All the Feds need is access to an unlocked device and Spotlight will tell them everything.
I didn't want to post more on this thread as I hate the idea of breaking 45 years of supporting Apple's innovation, its philosophy on privacy, and its products. Not my post, but I do think its worth a read even for sceptics. It demonstrates that Apple have caused themselves untold harm and the publicity they are getting is not the sort of publicity they want and where shareholders may have cause to intervene as it has the potential to hit sales, hit employment and hit sentiment, and sentiment if changed to negative can be a very powerful and destructive force.
'Apple will now use its phones to actively spy on over a billion users'.
jonathanturley.org
THE IRONY
www.freepressjournal.in
'Apple will now use its phones to actively spy on over a billion users'.
The Shadow State: NeuralHash and Apple’s Post-Privacy World
In the last week, Apple unveiled “NeuralHash,” a tool that will hasten our move toward a dystopian post-privacy world. The company informed the world this week that it would be adding the NeuralHas…
jonathanturley.org
THE IRONY
Apple chief warns UK against new spying law: Report
Apple chief warns UK against new spying law: Report
www.freepressjournal.in
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This is a question, as Apple may still allow us to install and run iOS 14 once iOS 15 is out.
Perhaps its because those interested in privacy would never have a twitter account in the first place.
All companies make mistakes, everyone make mistakes including Apple. This was a mistake. If you never made a mistake the likelihood is you never made anything. However having the courage to change that mistake allows progress.
It is worth noting though that Apple has made a few, bound to have, but when we get assurances over CSAM it is worth pointing out that Apple has made other mistakes like 'spying' and no doubt assurances were given there so assurances are not really worth the paper they are not written on, its actions that count:
Apple apologizes to users for Spying through Siri
There are so many tech companies using similar strategies to improve its workings but not all come out and accept its wrongdoing. So we need to appreciate Apple for accepting the fault and attempting to set things right.
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Yes, like I said in my other comment, everything done online can be traced. Is this always a problem? Not necessarily.
Agreed. But there is no discourse. The feature has been pushed onto us and the legislation is severely lacking behind.
true, there is discussion happening here, but this is no more than screaming into the void at this point.
This move should not be taken lightly and concerns from privacy and security experts should be taken seriously not just wishy washily shrugged off.
I have asked some of our legal team, albeit not constitutional lawyers, to explain to me how this does not trample all over the 4th amendment:
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The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
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The consensus seems to be on one hand, it is a violation of constitutional rights, but on the other hand, Apple must have vetted this were some well respected experts.
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The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
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The consensus seems to be on one hand, it is a violation of constitutional rights, but on the other hand, Apple must have vetted this were some well respected experts.
this analogy is completely incorrect. What’s actually happening is that before you leave your house, you create an inventory of all items you’re gonna bring across state and deliver that list to the FBI agent once you get to the border. That way, the agent does not need to go through your actual items.
let’s make this clear: the iPhone creates the hash. The matching process happens on the could.
What is your theory on why Apple, after years of positioning themselves as leaders in privacy, would choose to implement this policy now?
This might be the worst crisis Apple has faced in years.
I wonder if there is anything Apple can say or do, except withdraw it, that will fix this.
The "internet mob" has already decided this is bad and most people will just see the headline "Apple is scanning all your photos and will report you to the police" and have no interest in learning about the tech.
The badwill this has created is massive.
I wonder if there is anything Apple can say or do, except withdraw it, that will fix this.
The "internet mob" has already decided this is bad and most people will just see the headline "Apple is scanning all your photos and will report you to the police" and have no interest in learning about the tech.
The badwill this has created is massive.