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

Post by osmarks » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:49 PM UTC

wintermutestwin wrote: post #174

toxik wrote: post #3

Please talk to non-tech people around you about this. This overreach simply cannot stand, and from a company that sees success from touting itself as a privacy-centric alternative? These really are some dark times. I imagine that if the world had Stasi fresher in its mind, this would never have happened.

>touting itself as a privacy-centric alternative There is a difference between selling your data to the highest bidder through a stalker capitalism ecosystem and giving governments carte blanche access. I am not at all advocating for the latter, but if you are fighting that battle, CP is not the hill to die on.

Post by rantwasp » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:50 PM UTC

RegnisGnaw wrote: post #311

Note that: 1) its only scanned on upload to iCloud, so if you don't upload then its not scanned 2) (per another article, https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/05/apple-icloud-photos-scanni ...): Most cloud services — Dropbox, Google, and Microsoft to name a few — already scan user files for content that might violate their terms of service or be potentially illegal, like CSAM. So you really can't opt out unless you avoid al…

Post by zepto » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:51 PM UTC

devwastaken wrote: post #370

There has to be some incentive somewhere for Apple to do this. They know it's wrong, they know it will be abused. Tim Cook himself, if he wasn't rich and powerful, would be executed in a number of countries that Apple operates in for his sexual/romantic identity. Apple also removes LGBT based applications in countries where they're illigal, to continue doing business. This demonstrates that Apple complies with the de…

Post by dehrmann » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:53 PM UTC

systemvoltage wrote: post #419

rubyn00bie wrote: post #406

So the M1 has turned me off of Apple products because, quite frankly, I don't want to spend (more) of my time fixing shit a trillion dollar company broke and doesn't care to fix. This though, this will be the nail in the coffin with my 25 year relationship to Apple. I probably wouldn't even have batted an eye at it to be honest, iff, Apple hadn't been selling me on the idea that their platform is "private and secure.…

I used to downvote people a couple of years ago who were shedding doubt on Apple’s commitment to privacy. Boy. I was so wrong. I fell for the Marketing and it made sense at the time “Their business is selling hardware and services, not ads. Ofcourse they are privacy advocates”. Pass laws and legislation. I admit I was wrong and it’s refreshing to see this whole thing unfold before my eyes. It just solidified my opini…

Post by zepto » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 4:54 PM UTC

tomjen3 wrote: post #280

defaultname wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who engaged in such a discussion with a non-technical person is going to defacto seem like an advocate for child pornography, similar to how advocating for encryption can easily be twisted to being pro-crime. Having said that, there is an enormous amount of misinformation and fear-mongering about a pretty tame change. This seems like so much ado about very close to nothing. a) They optionally scan messaged pho…

The problem with this is that they can now scan images on phones regardless of upload, and it will render any future promisses of e2e iCloud deceiving. I don't see a reason to do this, other than to either scan all images, or claim that iCloud is e2e in the future. And of course they went with the protection of children argument, which is bullshit. Apple gets paid by its users and should have no other interests than…