No it couldn't it server based it could only potentially interrogate what you put on the cloud, whereas on your hardware it can potentially interrogate everything on your device.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Global Coalition of Policy Groups Urges Apple to Abandon 'Plan to Build Surveillance Capabilities into iPhones'
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
You really believe Apple is above the US government requests or surveillance programs. It’s fun to see.
Let’s remind Apple denied to be part of PRISM and they denied any knowledge about it and one year later after their bs articles around the world exposed they were part of it.
People need to accept Apple used privacy as human right as marketing. That’s the truth.
Look, would everybody please just calm down. All Apple wants to do is collude with the governments of planet Earth -- and the US in particular where it has some anti-trust issues, China isn't even on the table, they already caved in there years ago -- to conduct warrantless searches which the government itself is unable to do because it violates the 4th amendment. One big happy authoritarian group hug, keeping America safe from itself!
Okay, the "walled garden" paradigm may possibly be just another narrative and total BS since Apple is probably still 0wn3d by Pegasus and apparently iOS provides no greater security or barriers to malware or hackers. But, we're here for the All Singing, All Dancing, Crap of the World, and Apple keeps on churning it out! Just relax, everything is still shiny!
Won't somebody please think of the pastel colors and new keyboards!? Let's stay focused on the big issues! Monterey, the Hiroshima release is coming RSN! Something to look forward to this fall from Apple, because they care about our privacy, and people, and children, and labor camps/cities in China, and green energy and recycling things and stuff like that. They're woke AF! Just read their marketing.. If you leave Apple, it's 100% probable that you personally will contribute to global warming and make the oceans start burning!
Last edited:
I did not consider that, but you are right---Apple can't just look at child porn in Cupertino and call the FBI on the red Bat Phone
People should also read this: https://blog.cloudflare.com/the-csam-scanning-tool/
Any of Cloudflare's customers have had access to this ability for nearly 2 years now.
Someone on another thread posited it might be necessary to do on device to to E2E encryption making it "impossible" to perform on the cloud.
"Abusive parents" that gave their kids an iPhone with absolutely no restrictions on it no less! I would love to see the statistics on how those groups overlap.
Every time you upload a file a hash is generated. Apple is just using "fuzzy hashes" which allow them to find variations of known hashed files. This is basically:
and
Understanding the CSAM Scanning Tool
Learn how the CSAM Scanning Tool helps prevent the spread of CSAM. Overview Why would a URL be blocked? Configuring the CSAM scanning tool What happens when a match is detected? What action should ...
It does make me wonder if any of those up in arms have looked at the EXIF data in all their images and the trove of data in there.
I mean, if the government wanted to find something on your device, they'd just use a stingray device and intercept your messages raw, or use crypto mining to break your public key encryption and read all your encrypted MMS messages anyway (made up conspiracy theory based on some suspicions I have seen others discuss added for the ghoulish overkill effect).
This paranoia is ridiculous.
It’s not surveillance.
It’s checking a hash when a file is uploaded to Apple’s servers. It is illegal to hold abusive images on Apple’s servers. It’s the law.
A hash is also checked when you use Face ID or Touch ID. It’s literally the same thing except instead of an abusive image it checks against a mathematical string of your face or fingerprint.
It’s not surveillance.
It’s checking a hash when a file is uploaded to Apple’s servers. It is illegal to hold abusive images on Apple’s servers. It’s the law.
A hash is also checked when you use Face ID or Touch ID. It’s literally the same thing except instead of an abusive image it checks against a mathematical string of your face or fingerprint.
There’s quite a collection of techniques and technologies in the post you replied to, but the government does not actually need a warrant for many of them (including stingray). Please google your own answer, the US Patriot act took away an entire layer of rights we used to have.
we already have fewer freedoms than you may think, apple’s shift is just a huge further erosion of privacy rights.
just don’t engage in any wrongthink comrade!
Yeah yeah Apple won't obey... 🤣
Meanwhile...
citizenlab.ca
Now add CSAM on top, this clearly shows how Apple tick!
Meanwhile...
Engrave Danger: An Analysis of Apple Engraving Censorship across Six Regions - The Citizen Lab
Within mainland China, we found that Apple censors political content including broad references to Chinese leadership and China’s political system, names of dissidents and independent news organizations, and general terms relating to religions, democracy, and human rights. And across all six...
citizenlab.ca
Now add CSAM on top, this clearly shows how Apple tick!
Last edited:
I believe Apple thinks that the good PR from "Apple protects children" will outweigh the bad PR from "Apple snoops on your phone". Unfortunately, I think they're probably right.
They are surrounded by "corporate fanatics" and "yes" sayers. Tim is trying hard to be cool, always with praying hands.
Mister Hair Force One is the likable face of the company but in the last interview made me cringe.
But in general what is left from Apple that Jobs created is the logo and public perception of success.
This thing is already a PR disaster and even record sales will not hide the fact that Apple product design is flawed.
I am tired of reading about this. I have made my own decisions not to support a company so far removed from reality.
CSAM scanning isn’t protecting children from abuse. And I think Apple underestimated the blowback they’ve gotten on this (though I can’t fathom why, given Tim Cook’s shouting PRIVACY PRIVACY PRIVACY at the top of this lungs).
How could they make such a claim when iCloud Backup and iCloud Photo Library have existed for several years.
Every OS can copy everything on the device to a server over the Internet and it's easy. Most OSes has this capability built in.
To me, this sounds like Apple engineers think encryption is "SO COOL!!" "what can we add this to?" We've done contact tracing, Air Tags, what else can we do this neat thing with? Its like all the engineers got around and came up with this CSAM, "For the Kids" and ran with it. Not realizing what it sounds like to a large portion of the customers. I bet this wasn't even on the radar of the top executives -- they probably didn't even really know it was being added. Just a line on a report that sounds innocuous and you just glance over.
Now, the plan is to try and figure out how to resolve the marketing. Step #1, at least try and make sure everyone knows Apple is not a bad guy. Which is why they are explaining the tech. Even if they back down, they have to prove that this was for good intentions which is explain the tech. Step #2, Whatever their go forward plan, either full steam ahead or figure out a coherent message as to what they are going to do. Because if they back down, the other half of the world will be upset, because "the kids".
It would be just safer for them to use Android.
Their new CP could end up in the CSAM database if they spread it.
China has much better tool than this system. Why would they use an inefficient system?
To me, this sounds like China crushed their domestic companies first. Then told foreigners, you either obey or imagine what we would do to you.
Apple implemented a mass surveillance code and fabricated this “for the children” use case to try and avoid the gigantic cognitive dissonance it creates with its marketing, which ended up as a PR disaster anyway, although better than the alternative: auditors finding about it after its implementation.
What else could they do? Risk being banned from China where they manufacture virtually everything and make a large share of their profits? Basically a full scale collapse.
Apple being on a different side than the ACLU surprises me. Never thought I’d see that. It’s not a good position for Apple to be in. In the long, or even short run, I believe this will erode trust Apple’s customers have in the brand.
Apple can’t believably say privacy is our #1 value, while every single phone they sell is snooping in the background for “really bad stuff”.
Apple can’t believably say privacy is our #1 value, while every single phone they sell is snooping in the background for “really bad stuff”.
No, the free pass should extend to anyone. It’s the equivalent of sharing a Playboy magazine in the 1970s. And it’s a reality that sexting is part of 21st century dating whether we like it or not, and that starts at adolescence. Most of us were sexually active well before the age of consent.