I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple’s motivation is the liability they’re facing for having so much CSEM on they’re servers generated by children themselves during a year in near isolation. Section 203 may offer some protection but publicity would risk their revenue as parents reacted by ditching all of the Apple products their kids own.
After criticism, Apple to only seek abuse images flagged in multiple nations
211–220 of 255 posts
Re: After criticism, Apple to only seek abuse images flagged in multiple nations
#212Apple these days is the type of company to make a mistake, think they are never wrong, blame anyone but themselves and then change a little bit, only for it to go over like a dead balloon. It reminds me of the Apple Silicon dev kit. No refunds, ok refunds but you have to spend them in a certain time, ok fine you can use them for a longer period and for anything. They are probably completely flabbergasted that people…
They've been like that since the early days of the company, it's core to their culture, which was built by Steve Jobs. Apple has always had an elitist snobbery at their center, such that if you don't get a thing then you're wrong. That's what Think Different is all about, that's a hyper arrogant proclamation that could only be spewed out of an elitist never-wrong orifice, it's borderline assholic in nature. Part of t…
I mean I don’t consider myself an elitist but as a software engineer who just moved from doing dev work on a Mac to a Windows laptop, I’m so frustrated by how bad the experience is compared to the Mac. I love the new job but even these $2000 Dell laptops feel junky in comparison to a similarly priced MacBook Pro. I’m constantly having problems with my audio devices (which is a necessity during the pandemic) the built in microphone is terrible, the webcam on the laptop is on the BOTTOM of the screen which just makes me look super fat because reasons I guess. It’s like how a fish doesn’t realize it’s in water until it flops up on the shore.
Re: After criticism, Apple to only seek abuse images flagged in multiple nations
#213Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just have to wonder who green-lit this idea to begin with. Every single other company is riding a post-covid tidal wave of sales. as WFH becomes a reality for so many workers, apple products are positioned to really take center stage for a massive segment of consumers... and then this. Apple intentionally injects uncertainty and controversy? what were they thinking?? sure its just phones right now but im sure mac u…
It will come to the Mac eventually though, right? Macs can upload photos to iCloud.
Sooner or later the copyright enforcement companies will find a judge whose willing to rule that since Apple has the capability they have to use it even though this system is aimed at still images only, no sound or video. Then Apple will end up fighting it for years if they're lucky and it doesn't get a quick trip up to Supreme Court that's drastically Hollywood-friendly. The legal difference between mandating that a company create a brand new scanning capability and "just apply" one they already have is significant.
Re: After criticism, Apple to only seek abuse images flagged in multiple nations
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
You need to read what they are doing. It's on-device scanning. You have no privacy or choice. May as well have a Facebook Phone.
You need to read what they are doing. Yes it is on device But it is only done to photos uploaded to the cloud.
If they only intended to scan iCloud photos, then they would’ve done it on the server (since they have encryption keys) instead of installing spyware on everybody’s iPhone. If they had done that then there would’ve been little to no outrage since people wouldn’t need to worry as they could just turn off iCloud.
What do you think will happen when e.g. the Chinese government demand that they scan all photos for hashes provided by the government, upload them regardless of whether iCloud is enabled, and let a Chinese company handle the reviews? If they couldn’t stop the CCP from gaining full control of iCloud in China then they most definitely can’t prevent this either.. and other authoritarian governments will copy the CCP and make similar demands.
Re: After criticism, Apple to only seek abuse images flagged in multiple nations
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It would be a perfectly logical order from the power structures Snowden exposed. Snowden exposed that Apple was actively part[1] of the PRISM data collection and surveillance program targeting Americans. Apple also voluntarily gives up customer's data when requested by the US government for about 120,000 individuals a year[2]. They also hand over the data for over 31,000 users/accounts in response to FISA and NSL r…
maybe they want to stop giving up customer data and doing this on the phone is the only way to do e2ee backups - can't hand over what you can't decrypt.
Seems like a reach to me. The government doesn't just care about CSAM. They care about terrorism, human and drug trafficking, gangs, organized crime, fraud, etc.
That might make sense if CSAM detection is just the start, and they plan on detecting all those other things, as well.
Re: After criticism, Apple to only seek abuse images flagged in multiple nations
#216So they're still retaining the ability to look on users devices? I have nothing against them looking at the abuse material, I have a problem with them having power over my device, which could be piggy-backed on by state actors (or others) for their own purposes later. Nobody is against them trying to prevent child sexual abuse, pretty sure we all agree that fighting that is important, but doing so by creating what is…
Yeah, all they need to do is follow suit with what everybody else is doing and scan once images are uploaded onto iCloud.
Scan every single file. I don't care. Because once in iCloud, files are sitting on Apple's server and hard drives. I don't have much expectation that those files are 100% private.
They're completely missing the point.
Re: After criticism, Apple to only seek abuse images flagged in multiple nations
#217And... Apple misses the point of the criticism completely. This problem is the capability, not what it's used for. Any such capability will be abused by new use cases be it terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking or whatever. Plus there will inevitably be unauthorized access. The only way to prevent all this is for the system not to exist. I don't buy into theories that Apple is being pressured or coerced on a…
> This problem is the capability, not what it's used for. Any such capability will be abused by new use cases be it terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking or whatever. Plus there will inevitably be unauthorized access. Apple even says it themselves[1]: > This program is ambitious, and protecting children is an important responsibility. These efforts will evolve and expand over time. [1] https://www.apple.com/…
Moreover, things could become retroactively bad. If tomorrow multiple countries decide to change the minimum age of adult performers from 18 to 19 a bunch of pics legal today could become illegal tomorrow leading to wide dragnets enabling law enforcement to go through everything you have.
Re: After criticism, Apple to only seek abuse images flagged in multiple nations
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This problem is the capability, not what it's used for. Any such capability will be abused by new use cases be it terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking or whatever. Plus there will inevitably be unauthorized access. Apple even says it themselves[1]: > This program is ambitious, and protecting children is an important responsibility. These efforts will evolve and expand over time. [1] https://www.apple.com/…
I can't wait until /child-safety 404s or redirects to /safety and there's a wall of marketing blurb (possibly only in Chinese at first) that explains how 'national security' concerns are reported to the CCP. This has totally pushed me over the edge, though I'll admit I was oblivious to begin with. My plan is to replace the MacBooks with a Thinkpad P15 gen 2 running Ubuntu and replace the iPhone with something running…
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Re: After criticism, Apple to only seek abuse images flagged in multiple nations
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can't wait until /child-safety 404s or redirects to /safety and there's a wall of marketing blurb (possibly only in Chinese at first) that explains how 'national security' concerns are reported to the CCP. This has totally pushed me over the edge, though I'll admit I was oblivious to begin with. My plan is to replace the MacBooks with a Thinkpad P15 gen 2 running Ubuntu and replace the iPhone with something running…
There is another option - don’t put anything sensitive on your phone and basically treat it as an adversary already has root access. This pretty much what I do for a long time. All the sensitive information (e.g. banking) is on Linux desktop and there are no logins or apps on iPhone or work laptop (hn is not sensitive ;) ).
> hn is not sensitive
In literally 30s looking at your comments it shows that you're an HR and an amateur pilot.
Seeing the number of comments, with slightly more time, your place of residence and political leaning would probably become apparent.
Re: After criticism, Apple to only seek abuse images flagged in multiple nations
#220Earlier quoted context omitted.
It will come to the Mac eventually though, right? Macs can upload photos to iCloud.
Sooner or later the copyright enforcement companies will find a judge whose willing to rule that since Apple has the capability they have to use it even though this system is aimed at still images only, no sound or video. Then Apple will end up fighting it for years if they're lucky and it doesn't get a quick trip up to Supreme Court that's drastically Hollywood-friendly. The legal difference between mandating that a…
Apple doesn't have that capabilty though. There are countless ways to get copyrighted material on your phone that are perfectly legal. Apple would have to be able to decide if you're legally owning your files. With how the IP system works currently that's impossible. For CSAM this isn't a problem because we assume that there is no legitimate way to have CSAM files on your phone.