Apple Remains Committed to Launching New Child Safety Features Later This Year

[bushman4]

What happened to “end to end encryption”??? It can’t be if Apple is scanning my photos
I’ll repeat what I said before;
Having a cellphone gives up your privacy. People can see where you are or have been, how long you were there, what you bought even what brand Where you bought it etc
You’re giving up your privacy. Unfortunately we all need a cellphone so at least be aware that your life is public

 

[januarydrive7]

What happened to “end to end encryption”??? It can’t be if Apple is scanning my photos
I’ll repeat what I said before;
Having a cellphone gives up your privacy. People can see where you are or have been, how long you were there, what you bought even what brand Where you bought it etc
You’re giving up your privacy. Unfortunately we all need a cellphone so at least be aware that your life is public

End to end encryption means that everything that leaves your phone is encrypted, and is only able to be decrypted by the end-point that you're allowing to decrypt it. They have never said iCloud Photos was end to end encrypted.

Your phone scanning something prior to it leaving does not in and of itself break end to end encryption (which in this case doesn't exist in the first place).

 

[Macaholic868]

You're having double standards. On one hand, you're saying Apple and the government currently are following the rules, going through judges, issuing proper warrants, and going through the motions before decrypting a photo library. But when it comes to this new on device scanning, you're saying it'll be abused left and right by Apple and/or the government as they see fit.

Sorry, but only one is true. Either they're already abusing and decrypting iCloud Photo Libraries as they see fit today and therefore this new CSAM detection can't possibly make matters worse OR they are aren't abusing the data today and they won't go full total invasion of your privacy via on device CSAM detection in the future.

There is no double standard in saying a device shouldn’t spy on its owner.

 

[farewelwilliams]

There is no double standard in saying a device shouldn’t spy on its owner.

Then this new CSAM detection is no worse than some of the other features that's been on our iPhones for nearly a decade.

 

[januarydrive7]

There is no double standard in saying a device shouldn’t spy on its owner.

Not spying if it's letting you know exactly what it's doing...

 

[Mr. Heckles]

It won't run unless you turn on iCloud

Apple confirms CSAM detection only applies to photos, defends its method against other solutions - 9to5Mac

Apple continues to offer clarity around the CSAM (child sexual abuse material) detection feature it announced last week. In addition...

9to5mac.com

"Apple is also reinforcing that if a user does not use iCloud Photos, then no part of the CSAM detection process runs. This means that if a user wants to opt out of the CSAM detection process, they can disable iCloud Photos."

So if you use something else to sync your photos (Mega, pCloud, and others), they won’t scan your photos?

 

[nickdalzell1]

I am one of those oddballs who never 'trusted' the 'cloud' and kept everything on device or on a local-only NAS.

Even today, in 2021, the idea of all my songs (1,000 plus of them, in fact) being on my phone makes folks look at me as if I have two heads. My main reason was because cloud services don't last forever (I got burned by a short stint using Ubuntu One, which got EOL'd and I lost all data on it) and secondly, because I don't trust the company running it to not take issue with certain files I'd back up to it (such as DRM-free MP3 files, ISO images from VMs, etc) and up and remove it.

at least 100 of those MP3s date back to the Napster/BearShare era, and I'd hate to just up and lose them over two decades after those services got shut down.

 

[farewelwilliams]

So if you use something else to sync your photos (Mega, pCloud, and others), they won’t scan your photos?

You'll have to check if those other providers will scan your photos, but Apple will not. Apple only cares about finding child porn on iCloud servers.

 

[nickdalzell1]

You'll have to check if those other providers will scan your photos, but Apple will not. Apple only cares about finding child porn on iCloud servers.

Right now that's their intent, but how long before they are looking for 'vaccine misinformation' or 'fake news' or 'government dissent?'

They've set the precedent with this thing. Just like all the other forms of censorship that began with the phrase, "Will anyone PLEASE think of the children?!"

Ironically, the bleep censor that's been on TV began with a bunch of complaints from Christians who didn't like their kids hearing bad words on TV.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Right now that's their intent, but how long before they are looking for 'vaccine misinformation' or 'fake news' or 'government dissent?'

No point in guessing what they might do.

Where was your outrage when Apple implemented iCloud backups 10 years ago which aren't end to end encrypted? Could they not decrypt your backup file to check for vaccine misinformation or fake news today?

 

[nickdalzell1]

No point in guessing what they might do.

Where was your outrage when Apple implemented iCloud backups 10 years ago which aren't end to end encrypted? Could they not decrypt your backup file to check for vaccine misinformation or fake news today?

10 years ago, 2011, I was using an iPhone 3GS, didn't have an Apple ID yet (the phone was supplied from work, I just used what was on it) So it wasn't even on my radar yet.

 

[farewelwilliams]

10 years ago, 2011, I was using an iPhone 3GS, didn't have an Apple ID yet (the phone was supplied from work, I just used what was on it) So it wasn't even on my radar yet.

iCloud was announced in 2011 (correction, backups was announced in 2014). Much like CSAM isn't installed on your iPhone yet but was announced. But here you are complaining about something that isn't available yet.

But iCloud backups was on your radar at some point in the past 6 years no? Did you complain about backups? I don't think so but feel free to show me posts of where you did.

 

[nickdalzell1]

I'm just erring on the side of caution given what I know now and based on history for any other so-called 'protection of children' measure being done that obviously went sideways and got used for other reasons.

I never used cloud services after Ubuntu One got EOL'd, and I can't even recall how long ago that was. I built my Linux NAS back in 2013 at the least, so I haven't relied on any 'cloud' drives/services since. After the death of One, I decided the whole point was moot since there is no guaranteed longevity and most of them would probably require you updating all the time the app to access it which I also don't do. I disable updates on day one.

I've done backups the old fashioned way, with disks, CDs, SD-Cards, or alternate NASs for years. I know, for most younger folks, that would probably feel stone age, but it works for me, and I don't worry about who sees my data, or it being lost due to some arbritary copywrite strike later on.

 

[deaglecat]

I'm just erring on the side of caution given what I know now and based on history for any other so-called 'protection of children' measure being done that obviously went sideways and got used for other reasons.

I never used cloud services after Ubuntu One got EOL'd, and I can't even recall how long ago that was. I built my Linux NAS back in 2013 at the least, so I haven't relied on any 'cloud' drives/services since. After the death of One, I decided the whole point was moot since there is no guaranteed longevity and most of them would probably require you updating all the time the app to access it which I also don't do. I disable updates on day one.

I've done backups the old fashioned way, with disks, CDs, SD-Cards, or alternate NASs for years. I know, for most younger folks, that would probably feel stone age, but it works for me, and I don't worry about who sees my data, or it being lost due to some arbritary copywrite strike later on.

Be careful with CDs...well specifically CD-Recordable I can no longer read a number of CDR disks that I wrote 6+ years ago. Long term archive storage needs careful thought. Oddly, old HDD seem to retain data and be readable for me... but HDD stiction can be an issue (though I have not suffered it myself).

 

[kalsta]

Right now that's their intent, but how long before they are looking for 'vaccine misinformation' or 'fake news' or 'government dissent?'

Shouldn’t we be judging the technology on what it actually is and not what we imagine it could be? Gosh, if we shut down every technology based on the slippery-slope fallacy, we’d still be chiselling stone tablets.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Be careful with CDs...well specifically CD-Recordable I can no longer read a number of CDR disks that I wrote 6+ years ago. Long term archive storage needs careful thought. Oddly, old HDD seem to retain data and be readable for me... but HDD stiction can be an issue (though I have not suffered it myself).

That's the point of redundant backups. Always on more than one source.

I've only dealt with "stiction" on an old MFM drive in an old Dell 286 a long time ago. I had to pick the PC case up and bang it on a table just so it'd spin (it was so loud you could hear it at the other end of the office!) Although I have dealt with 'click of death' on more modern spinner HDDs, which is why SSD is the storage medium I prefer aside SD Cards (never lost an SD card yet.)

 

[deaglecat]

... I prefer aside SD Cards (never lost an SD card yet).

Lost 2 SD cards to Raspberry Pi's (they have a habit of becoming read only).

And 1 to Action Cameras... need ones that have high endurance. Indeed some manufacturers exclude that use case from regular SD cards.

So for me... SD is not so reliable. SSD has been perfect for me so far.

 

[nickdalzell1]

SSD is damn reliable but I haven't had enough time to properly judge it. The $10 8GB SD card (class 4) I bought at Dollar General way way back in 2009 still works to this day. I bought two class 10 32GB Samsung SD cards for my more modern stuff that can read higher capacities but I've never lost one yet. But then I haven't written much to any of them in a long time. There's less than 2GB left on the old 8GB'er, and the last files I put on it were service manual PDF files for golf carts.

Now the devices are a different animal altogether. My Galaxy S5 refuses to read ANY SD cards today (claims they're 'corrupt' but they read and write fine in other devices) and my Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 sees a 32GB card as a 2GB, but that's the only issues I've dealt with them. The devices have flaky readers or slots a lot of times. Even my S20 FE has claimed 'your SD card has problems' but I can still read/write to it, so I turned off that notification. Take that idiot proof crap elsewhere, Samsung!

 

[Nuno Lopes]

Hello.

To people that are concerned with constitutional rights and the government. I would be more concerned not with the democratically elected government in that respect but private companies that are guided by no values other than profit. They may start well intentioned but as they grow all sorts of people, with different values are attracted to it … promoted by the profits they bring to the company nothing else.

I dont understand why banks are required to provide the keys to open a safe deposit box providing access to data in presence of a warrant and digital moguls aren’t in the context of their OS. After all even in user devices it seams to be their OS that its hosting all sorts of things … much like a safety deposit box in a bank.

 

[victry1]

Meanwhile, what are our options? You can only hold off on upgrading for so long. Would using another app help keep our photos safe from Apple? Or buy a different phone? Don’t want to do that, but I do object to this invasion of privacy.

 

[januarydrive7]

Be careful with CDs...well specifically CD-Recordable I can no longer read a number of CDR disks that I wrote 6+ years ago. Long term archive storage needs careful thought. Oddly, old HDD seem to retain data and be readable for me... but HDD stiction can be an issue (though I have not suffered it myself).

If you really want longevity/reliability, keep an eye out for DNA storage solutions. A group at UW and Microsoft are doing some cool things with DNA storage and microfluidics.

 

[Macaholic868]

Then this new CSAM detection is no worse than some of the other features that's been on our iPhones for nearly a decade.

Since when did two, three or four wrongs make a right? Never, that’s when. This is a bridge too far and it’s time to let them know it.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Since when did two, three or four wrongs make a right? Never, that’s when. This is a bridge too far and it’s time to let them know it.

All that tells me is that this is overblown if you think iCloud backups being not end to end encrypted is also wrong, considering worst case scenario of that is much worse than CSAM.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Meanwhile, what are our options? You can only hold off on upgrading for so long. Would using another app help keep our photos safe from Apple? Or buy a different phone? Don’t want to do that, but I do object to this invasion of privacy.

By God! I can hold off upgrading (or updating as well) for as long as I darned well please! If an app breaks or 'requires' an update (As Kroger did today, probably because it phoned home before I cut the internet to Play Services, and I haven't launched it for awhile) I uninstall it. So long as my core apps such as music, SMS texting, phone calls and basic web browsing keep working I can live without 'fancy modern apps'

The hardware might have changed over time but my smartphone needs haven't changed much from 2010. I got a full NAS of old good Android apps to play around with, many which don't even need an internet connection (classic 2011 Angry Birds, anyone?)

Heck, if anything, less apps means less distractions and better for my digital wellbeing.

 

[Macaholic868]

All that tells me is that this is overblown if you think iCloud backups being not end to end encrypted is also wrong, considering worst case scenario of that is much worse than CSAM.

What that tells me is that you are fine with Big Brother. This is different than what Apple has done up until this point. This is your devices self reporting to law enforcement. The other things you mention require law enforcement to suspect, independently of your phone, that you’re guilty of something and to obtain a warrant. This feature doesn’t require that. Further, there is spyware that can pwn your phone just by viewing a text message. It’s for sale on the open market. What’s to stop somebody with that from taking over your phone and deliberately uploading images? Nothing, that’s what. Apple needs to focus on that.

What if your spouse or significant other is vindictive and wants to leave you and get some revenge? If they know your passcode if you don’t have one what’s stopping them from uploading some images knowing Johnny Law will come knocking assuming your a pedo? If you can’t see the forest through the trees that’s on you. Not on those of us who are wisely pointing out this is different and a bridge too far.