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An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

appleprivacyletter.com

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Re: An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

#261

Post by ipodopt »

fsflover wrote: post #243
ipodopt wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have their laptop and do not recommend them. Honestly, I sort of regret the purchase. - They lie about specifications like battery life (and other things). I get about 1 hour on my ~5 hour battery life when web browsing. - My laptop had a race condition at boot that would prevent boot 50% of the time. There was a workaround. - Wifi had a range of maybe ten feet (not joking). I am sure there new laptop is better how…

This is quite interesting. I'm writing this on their Librem 15 and can't recommend it enough. No problems with booting or anything. Battery life got short with time (but I never cared about it). > Wifi had a range of maybe ten feet (not joking). Purism is using the only existing WiFi card that works with free firmware. It is less performant than typical proprietary ones. If you don't care about your freedom strongly,…

> Purism is using the only existing WiFi card that works with free firmware. It is less performant than typical proprietary ones. If you don't care about your freedom strongly, you can replace the card (they are very cheap on ebay). Also, check Purism forums for such questions. It works better than "ten feet" for me.

Not the wifi card, the surround material like the chassis are attenuating the signal (the librem 14 should have fixed this issue). I swapped mine out for a well supported and performant Intel card and only got marginal improvements to the signal.

My "ten feet" was using it at coffee shops. I was traveling with the laptop. It was hard. The card switch did get it over the hump for this use case. Not an issue most of the time but still will have get a spot closer the router for video calls (like standup).

So the constraints for work were getting a seat close the router AND a power plug. I ended up USB tethering with my phone alot.

I do appreciate their contributions to the ecosystem but was wronged as a consumer. They need to be truthful.

I take it you have the v3 with the standard boot drive?

Re: An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

#262

Post by robertoandred »

SirensOfTitan wrote: post #105

I know the privacy approach Apple has been pushing was just marketing, but I didn't care too much because I enjoyed my iPhone and M1 macbook. Because of this decision (and the fact that my iPhone more-or-less facilitates poor habits throughout my life), I'm considering moving completely out of the Apple ecosystem. Does anyone have any recommendations for replacements? * On laptops: I have an X1 carbon extreme running…

You know Google scans the CP database too, right?

Re: An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

#263

Post by voakbasda »

freediver wrote: post #63

While I applaud the goal, this is likely not to achieve it on its own. Those that should be affected are probably not using Messanger to begin with and if they are they can easilly switch to other communication apps. It is also not quite clear if Apple is taking a moral or legal stand here. If it is legal then this could in the future open doors to: - Scanning for other types of illegal content - Scanning for copyrig…

Apple is a legal entity not a moral one. It may have moral employees, but at best Apple itself is amoral. It will do what the law allows (or compels) it to do.

This feature absolutely will be used for human rights abuse by countries like China, just like they have asked Apple to abuse their platform in the past. Why? Because those abuses are legal there, and capitulation will be the only way those governments will allow them continue to sell in their lucrative marketplace.

Re: An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

#264

Post by mchusma »

People always use child porn as the backdoor excuse.

Once they have the mechanism in place to censor and report content. They will for sure be requested to use this. For terrorism, hate speech, etc until it's so blurry until it's absolutely limitless :(

Re: An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

#265

Post by jstsch »

Disagree. I think this is a boon to E2E encryption. However you might feel, content filter legislation is unstoppable. It will just take a few high profile media cases for E2E encryption to be killed, otherwise. This is the right (privacy-conscious) way to implement it, on device. Google has been doing this for years, yet server-side. I recommend reading the actual docs: https://www.apple.com/child-safety/

Re: An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

#266

Post by bambax »

freediver wrote: post #63

While I applaud the goal, this is likely not to achieve it on its own. Those that should be affected are probably not using Messanger to begin with and if they are they can easilly switch to other communication apps. It is also not quite clear if Apple is taking a moral or legal stand here. If it is legal then this could in the future open doors to: - Scanning for other types of illegal content - Scanning for copyrig…

> While I applaud the goal

Really? What is the goal?

It's not to prevent child abuse, since passively looking at images is not, per se, abuse.

It's also not to limit the making of child pornography, since this will only search for already existing and already known images that already exist in government databases.

If you make new images that are not yet in said databases, you're fine.

I'm not sure what the actual goal is (project a virtuous company image, maybe?), but the result could very well be the opposite of what people think.

Re: An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

#267

Post by commoner »

yosito wrote: post #232
commoner wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no maps I don't experience any issues using mapping apps on Android with microG instead of Google Play Services. Closed source navigation apps including Google Maps, HERE WeGo, and Magic Earth work just fine. Open source navigation apps like Organic Maps and OsmAnd also work with no problems.

I have found that my Pixel with CalyxOS and microG doesn't have any text to speech engine. So the maps apps work, but with no turn by turn audio.

RHVoice is a free and open source text-to-speech output engine for Android. Try it out:

- F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.olga_yakovleva.rh...

- GitHub: https://github.com/RHVoice/RHVoice

Alternatively, if you prefer Google's closed source text-to-speech engine (that is preinstalled on most commercial Android devices), you can download Speech Services by Google through Aurora Store:

- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.and...

Instructions for configuring the default text-to-speech engine on Android are here:

- https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/6006...

Most navigation apps come with their own voice banks for turn-by-turn navigation audio, and installing a text-to-speech engine isn't necessary for these apps. However, Organic Maps (which is a recommended app in the CalyxOS setup wizard) doesn't, and it relies on the default text-to-speech engine.

Re: An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

#268

Post by gerash »

rcruzeiro wrote: post #245
gerash wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you claiming GMail looks through the emails to match them with crime keywords and reports you to the authorities? citation needed

I'm claiming they use the content of your messages to profile you and better target their ads until they stopped this practice in 2017 in favour of reading your email "for better product personalisation".

gmail (and any other web based email) needs to "read" the email content to provide a search function. If the same program also uses the content to pick some ads from the inventory then I'm personally ok with that.

That is different from searching them for illegal material based on what illegal implies at a given time and location.

Re: An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

#269

Post by robertoandred »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #82

I'm waiting for orthodox authorities to do stuff like reporting pictures of people (not just girls) without head coverings. or dressed in bikinis, thongs, or underwear (like a significant number of "influencers" do, every day). There are already places in this world, where a couple can be arrested for kissing in public. I suspect that the folks enforcing those laws, would have some real interest in this capability. N…

That’s not at all how this works. It doesn’t scan for images of arbitrary subjects. It scans for exact matches of known CP. Your vacation pics are in no danger of being flagged.

Re: An Open Letter Against Apple's Privacy-Invasive Content Scanning Technology

#270

Post by voakbasda »

sul_tasto wrote: post #199

how is this not a violation of the 4th amendment if Apple is performing this search on behalf of a government entity?

Because you are submitting to it via their EULA. Probably time you read that contract again, eh? You have no rights once you give them up.
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