Apart from the fact that:
(A) Apple publicly announced they would not move forward with that solution, and
(B) A least one independent investigation verified above to be unlikely to be part of the current macOS.
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Apple Provides Further Clarity on Why It Abandoned Plan to Detect CSAM in iCloud Photos
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(A) Apple publicly announced they would not move forward with that solution, and
(B) A least one independent investigation verified above to be unlikely to be part of the current macOS.
Why did it take so long for Apple to realize this? Why did tens of thousands of users have to vote against it before Apple realized that it was about to open Pandora's box?
So you never bothered to read how this actually works and just worried about something for the wrong reasons 🧐
Good. And besides, if the NSA, Mossad, et al. really wanted to access someone’s data, they would find a way to do it. CP wouldn’t be on their radar anyway, but my point is where there’s a will there’s a way, even if you need to pay a sexy spy to love bomb the target into giving you the password, or secretly develop a trillion dollar AI to crack encryption we currently believe to be uncrackable.
Apple would be liable because they are expressly saying there is no need for them to carry out CSAM detection giving excuses as to why. Various vocal groups are saying Apple needs to implement CSAM detection on icloud and Apple have turned around and basically said no. Therefore if CSAM material is found on icloud by the police due to the apprehension of criminals and their investigations, Apple could be held liable for knowing such a thing takes place and refusing to implement something that would have prevented the unlawful material from appearing on their icloud in the first place.
Apple doing its part to keep me as a customer. Modern privacy violations scare the hell out of me. I already find it creepy and weird the government tracks every car on the motorway.
So is this why Apple will know longer let Siri search and identify your pictures by location, object, and date? I mean, you can do that with spotlight search and you can search in the Photos app. So why not let Siri search and make it easire on everybody who, like me, have thousands of pictures.
This is how it starts folks.
1. Do something the public doesn’t want and then
2. Ban those, in the know, from informing those affected.
There were users on here who kept saying "You are not an Apple engineer" and "Apple knows better" and "Protect the children" and "What do you have to hide." Well, apparently everybody knew better than Apple, including the inventor of this technology, who called it "dangerous." And the present Apple knows better than the past Apple. Apple is not always right. Sometimes even the ordinary commonsense users know better.
Knives over a certain size (or using a specific method of operation like switchblades) are totally illegal. Because they’re primarily designed to hurt people.
I’m glad that Apple directly mentioned “slippery slope” as the underlying issue.
It is the issue, and we need to keep pressure on Apple (for example) so it doesn’t snowball into worldwide hovering of our data (as best we can).
Have a great Labor Day weekend.
It is the issue, and we need to keep pressure on Apple (for example) so it doesn’t snowball into worldwide hovering of our data (as best we can).
Have a great Labor Day weekend.
This could have been a good thing but a bunch of complainers who didn't even realize before that Apple is already scanning their iCloud email for child porn suddenly went "but my privacy!"
Whats strange is this was all known from Apple when they defied the FBI request to unlock the San Bernadino iPhones years before. This isn't a new stance at all, it was more that the plan they had for inspecting photos went against their apparent stance.
Even ignoring the risks of this feature, it would not have been all that useful in accomplishing its desired goal. It would only be triggered when someone would download an image that was listed in the database of bad images, and then upload that image to iCloud (likely using Photos). Anything stored on-device would not be scanned at all.
Edit for clarity: Hashing the image happens on device, but this would only happen for files that would be uploaded to iCloud.
Edit for clarity: Hashing the image happens on device, but this would only happen for files that would be uploaded to iCloud.
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The big wigs at Apple and the owner of this website should be extremely ashamed and embarrassed that there are Apple customers and MR members who would rather see the continuing of child abuse and child exploitation rather than have an effective system put into place to catch such behavior because that is what happens every time a vile image is uploaded to the icloud, a child continuing to be abused. CSAM would be able to flag the image, Apple would be able to report to law enforcement where the image was uploaded from, the time and date. This would allow law enforcement to then carry out investigations with the eventual result of the person who uploaded the image arrested. That person could then disclose where they got the image from leading to a domino effect of arresting one after the other in the chain of abuse eventually leading up to the ring leader who abused children and created the image in the first place. But none of that will happen because many Apple customers and many MR members value their privacy far to much. What is the well known saying 'If it saves one child life then it is worth it'. Not for many MR members is does not. Hell would have to freeze over before they agree to any encroachment into their privacy.
Again, it's easy to be sympathetic to "monitoring" (whatever that means) for illicit Child Exploitation images; thus weakening privacy.
It's the unintended consequences of weakening privacy and putting in place a censor's wet dream. Before you know it, the Party would define what you are allowed to think about.
There's plenty of laws already in place to deal with people who have exploited technology to access repugnant images. It is not up to companies such as Apple to do the government's snooping for them.
They get it! It is so refreshing to hear real talk from Apple, reflecting that they really did research this issue earnestly and listen to feedback from all sides. They are in a tough spot but it’s similar to the subject of backdoors in encryption. They want to help but they know they can’t break the whole system to do it.
It's not really about "data thieves." The part left unsaid is basically this:
If Apple creates the infrastructure to scan user data in iCloud Photos for CSAM in a "privacy oriented way" as decribed here:
Apple Introducing New Child Safety Features, Including Scanning Users' Photo Libraries for Known Sexual Abuse Material
Apple today previewed new child safety features that will be coming to its platforms with software updates later this year. The company said the...
www.macrumors.com
It opens the door to Apple being compelled to allow user data to be scanned against various other hashes for content deemed inappropriate or undesirable by the government of any country that is a major market for Apple (cough China under the CCP cough)
This would've created an insane amount of moral hazard for Apple, and put vulnerable users in authoritarian countries at risk. Honestly speaking, in comparison, the risk to people in first world democracies was relatively small (albeit still not insignificant, particularly with the rise of would be populists/authoritarians in many countries) in comparison.
It's great Apple listened to it's customers and society here.
First of all, it’s up to law enforcement agencies to track down child abusers. It’s not Apple’s job to put battery sapping software on their customer devices just so they don’t have to spend the money on cloud scanning software.
Secondly, full stops are your friend.
The problem are gag orders in the US and other countries. If it is technically possible to scan any cloud data, Apple would be forced to do that very frequently and Apple managers would face prison sentences if they even talk about that. So the only way is to NOT make it technically possible.
Imagine you commit a crime. If a friend of you knows about it, he could face charges, if he lies about that to the police. So better not tell him anything. If a friend of mine commits a crime, I do not want to know about it. That is the same principle.
And of course if the US could force Apple to decrypt data, China, Turkey or Saudi Arabia could do the same.
Imagine you commit a crime. If a friend of you knows about it, he could face charges, if he lies about that to the police. So better not tell him anything. If a friend of mine commits a crime, I do not want to know about it. That is the same principle.
And of course if the US could force Apple to decrypt data, China, Turkey or Saudi Arabia could do the same.
At least they admitted the mistake and took it back versus ignoring everyone and barreling forward.
For this to happen, then a picture of your toddler would have to have already shown up in the CSAM database, in which case you already have a bigger problem than your lack of understanding of how this actually works.
OK, but “fuzzy hashes” are still used by Cloudflare and freely available to all Cloudflare users AND hashes cannot be reverse-engineered to reveal the original content… AND… those raw hashes are calculated and stored on upload to ensure the file(s) transferred w/o corruption; so saying it introduced a vector for compromise literally makes zero sense, but I am sure it will appease the people taking up arms on a non-issue.