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i see apple have wheeled out the fancy haired good looking funny man to try win us over.

if it really works how they say it works and can really stop governments abusing it for other means then i'm all for it. but they can't really prove it so ... what do ya do?
He didn't win me over but rather confirmed by long pauses and stuttering that Apple is up to something. Not trustworthy at all.
 
I would much prefer that than Apple scanning photos on my phone.

Let's see... Apple scanning a table of unique hashes (numbers that can't be reconstructed into anything) against hashed photos (also numbers that can't be reconstructed into anything) on my phone. Or, the government having access to all of my jpeg photos on iCloud.

Well, OK... But I'll still go with the first option.
 
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So basically he's repeating what could be easily understood all along by people who actually read the writeup on Apple's website without turning on their overactive imaginations and anti-Apple bias :rolleyes:

But nothing will ever be enough for those folks. They've already held trial in their mind and convicted Apple of wrongdoing based on hearsay and speculation.
I think you lack a basic understanding of technology.

There will be a scanning system on your device.
At any moment that scanning system can be used to scan.... for something else.
Its simply a matter of changing lines of code.

Thats the problem.
 
If they are just scanning the hash couldn't the abuser not just modify the image slightly (like adding a pixel somewhere) and they would be clear?
No @svenning. I've done a bit of recreational work in this area and this is my knowledge...

The device could make a blueprint describing the image's shapes, lines, and colors. That is coded into a hash that is compared with other images. Someone could change the pixels to a certain degree, but think of it this way... imagine a circle with a few pixels missing. Your mind can fill in the blank and still understand that it's a circle, right?

Image processing and machine learning works the same way. Computers have been trained to analyze shapes and patterns and fill in the altered or missing content to be extremely close to the original.

But I'm guessing that for privacy, the original photo hash is one way and cannot be decrypted to restore or attempt to recreate the original photo.

But I have no idea what Apple is actually doing.
 
What I cant accept is if they really want to “protect the children” and they have these photos in a database, isn’t the right answer for law enforcement to do their job and shutdown the originators, the real abusers?

Apple has somehow convinced themselves it is acceptable to give up their customers rights to privacy and become the playground tattletail.

Apple keeps saying, “if you don’t want that feature, just don’t use iCloud”. Then why the heck do I need the spyware on MY device?
 
It feels like the end of an era.

It feels like it -- because it absolutely is

They could actually roll this back completely (publicly) and I think this has done largely irreparable harm to their reputation on the privacy front --- particularly a narrative many held, perhaps very naively, that Apple was super interested in protecting their consumers interests, almost to a fault.
 
Yeah for me I don't like that, because sometimes I take private photos and I do not upload them to the cloud. I like to think they stay on the phone, the idea that some guy at Apple could in theory be looking at them, doesn't appeal to me. Even if extremely unlikely, it is possible.

Everything on the cloud I upload knowing someone could look at it, now with this new system, every photo I take I would do so knowing someone could look at it, before it is even uploaded. This is 1984.

Only photos destined for iCloud Photo Library would be scanned. Since the iCloud Photo Library is in the cloud, using this service means you're uploading to the cloud.

If you, as you say, don't upload to Apple's iCloud Photo Library, this system will not scan your photos.
 
What I cant accept is if they really want to “protect the children” and they have these photos in a database, isn’t the right answer for law enforcement to do their job and shutdown the originators, the real abusers?

Absolutely!
Instead we have Apple doing the bidding of law enforcement.

It's clear as day - as you've highlighted very nicely - what is really in play here.

All the rest of the "new releases" and "interviews" from Apple are just attempts to push some dirt over the heaping pile of poop here.
 
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I think you lack a basic understanding of technology.

There will be a scanning system on your device.
At any moment that scanning system can be used to scan.... for something else.
Its simply a matter of changing lines of code.

Thats the problem.
There is scanning on your device (photos macos). pls. ref to this comment also…

 
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Apple keeps saying, “if you don’t want that feature, just don’t use iCloud”. Then why the heck do I need the spyware on MY device?
EXACTLY! Even if you turn off iCloud, the spyware is still included on your phone because it is built into the OS.
That is my number one issue here, and CF doesn’t address it, just tries to explain why Apple’s spy technology makes it safe.
 
EXACTLY! Even if you turn off iCloud, the spyware is still included on your phone because it is built into the OS.
That is my number one issue here, and CF doesn’t address it, just tries to explain why Apple’s spy technology makes it safe.

You guys are right on it..
This is the fight - for sure.

We don't want software built into our devices whose purpose is to scan our own content, on our own devices, and compare it to third party databases of any kind.
 
Only photos destined for iCloud Photo Library would be scanned. Since the iCloud Photo Library is in the cloud, using this service means you're uploading to the cloud.

If you, as you say, don't upload to Apple's iCloud Photo Library, this system will not scan your photos.
Yes but if iCloud is turned on, the photo would be scanned on device, even if it is not actually uploaded to iCloud.

Currently the photo is not scanned until it is actually on the cloud.
 
I just need to know exactly what these "auditabilities" are.
Then and only then I will be able to consciously have an opinion.
 
Maybe Apple should use or build intermediary servers whose whole purpose is to scan things meant to go up to iCloud servers.

Don't do scanning on our devices when the goal is to compare our own content to third party databases
 
I think their legal team calculated the possibilities (and those are very high, probably) of them getting sued, investigated or somehow being impacted in an extremely negative way if any government or agency acuses them of being an accessory for child pornography distribution. Thus, we get these countermeasures wether we like it or not.
I'm not supporting them or accusing them, by the way.
Probably a sign of things to come regarding cloud storage and possible international law changes and reinforcement regarding this subject.
If the US govt cared about child abuse they would've sent seal team 6 to Balmoral to pick up Andrew.
 
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They could actually roll this back completely (publicly) and I think this has done largely irreparable harm to their reputation on the privacy front --- particularly a narrative many held, perhaps very naively, that Apple was super interested in protecting their consumers interests, almost to a fault.
I'm not sure that rolling this back would actually help the situation much, not even considering reputation. Now that governments know Apples has developed the tool, they have the option of applying pressure to have the tool deployed and used. Prior to now, Apple could say they could not be compelled to invest time and money into such a tool.
 
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