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

Apple can (and likely will) say they won't do it and then do it anyway. It's a proprietary platform. They already have it, now. All they are claiming is an excuse not to be caught in a certain way they wouldn't like at a later point.

I would really like to hear from people who sign this open letter, how they think about this. Should the internet be a free for all place without moderation? Where are the boundaries for moderation (if it has to exist), one-on-one versus group chat, public versus private chat?

To quote this open letter: “Apple is opening the door to broader abuses”. Wouldn't not doing anything open a different door to broader abuse?

Edit: I would really love an actual answer, since responses until now have been "but muh privacy". You can't plead for unlimited privacy and ignore the impact of said privacy. If you want unlimited privacy, at least have the balls to admit that this will allow free trade of CSAM, but also revenge porn, snuff-films and other things like it.

Nobody should be prosecuted for possessing or viewing any text, image or audio recording, unless they created it themselves by abusing someone. That is a fundamental principle of a free society which has been acknowledged for if not decades, hundreds of years. By all means prosecute the distribution of such material - but to prosecute possession is returning us to the Middle Ages hunting witches again.

It is only because of radical, extremist feminists and other moralists creating moral panics in the 1970s and 1980s are we faced with the present situation in the 21st Century, which is extremely dangerous in a highly interconnected society such as ours, where it is very difficult if not impossible to stop people from unintentionally coming across such material.

We might as well have a nuclear reactor in our own homes, yes it's very useful and provides lots of free electricity but one day it can melt down destroying the entire family? Do you see the analogy I'm making? Because the Internet is just as dangerous. The penalties for possession of such material and being put on the sex offenders register are so horrific, it's totally unreal. It's like a real life nightmare. I cannot believe I'm typing this here in 2021. What has happened to our country?

We criticize dangerous products that are unsafe and burn your house down or electrocute you, but why can't we criticize the dangers of the Internet and all the ridiculous draconian laws involving it? It is as if the law itself and the crazy ways it's made is beyond discussion?

Nobody should have to fear their own computers (unless they are doing major hacking/fraud/sending death threats, etc...).. This simply cannot be happening in a free society. It looks like we are no better than China - it's just over different stuff here in the West.

Yes!!!

Maybe the same thing that makes this hard to understand about iOS will be what finally kills these absolutely wretched mobile OSes.