Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If someone uploads child porn to iCloud and then shares it with someone else Apple is possessing and distributing child porn. If someone sends CSAM using Federal Express, is FedEx legally liable for "possessing and distributing" that material? Does FedEx need to start opening up packages and scanning hard drives, DVDs, USB sticks, etc. to ensure that they don't contain any CSAM or other illegal data? I really strug…
>If someone sends CSAM using Federal Express, is FedEx legally liable for "possessing and distributing" that material? Yes: https://www.dea.gov/press-releases/2014/07/18/fedex-indicted... That was for drugs but conceptually the same for CSAM.
FedEx was not held liable simply because their service was used to mail illegal drugs. They were held liable because not only did they know about the specific instances in which it was mailed, they allegedly conspired with the shippers to facilitate the mailings. They were knowingly mailing packages to parking lots where drug dealers would wait to pick them up:
> According to the indictment, as early as 2004, FedEx knew that it was delivering drugs to dealers and addicts. FedEx’s couriers in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia expressed safety concerns that were circulated to FedEx Senior management, including that FedEx trucks were stopped on the road by online pharmacy customers demanding packages of pills; that the delivery address was a parking lot, school, or vacant home where several car loads of people were waiting for the FedEx driver to arrive with their drugs; that customers were jumping on the FedEx trucks and demanding online pharmacy packages; and that FedEx drivers were threatened if they insisted on delivering packages to the addresses instead of giving the packages to customers who demanded them.
They had drug addicts literally stopping FedEx trucks on the street to intercept packages from online pharmacies. I don't see how this specific situation is analogous to Apple at all.
The fact remains that FedEx is not scanning hard drives, DVD or other storage devices going through their network and they don't appear to be breaking any laws by not doing that scanning.