This had been mentioned in another thread, but I felt, given its importance, it deserved its own thread.

From AP (just one of many such articles):

quote:

Apple to scan U.S. iPhones for images of child sexual abuse
By FRANK BAJAK and BARBARA ORTUTAY Aug. 6, 2021

Apple unveiled plans to scan U.S. iPhones for images of child sexual abuse, drawing applause from child protection groups but raising concern among some security researchers that the system could be misused, including by governments looking to surveil their citizens.
...
Separately, Apple plans to scan users’ encrypted messages for sexually explicit content as a child safety measure, which also alarmed privacy advocates.

Full article: Apple to scan U.S. iPhones for images of child sexual abuse

Another article, with more extensive comment from industry security and privacy experts: Fury at Apple's plan to scan iPhones for child abuse images and report 'flagged' owners to the police after a company employee has looked at their photos

So much for Apple's vaunted privacy and security

After I've vetted and re-vetted it several times, to ensure I'm stating my case as calmly and rationally as possible, I will be sending sternly-worded comments to Apple regarding my feelings about them installing spyware on our Apple devices.

In the meantime: I have begun taking measures (*) to prepare for my family's eventual separation from Apple and have placed on hold our plans to purchase additional Apple products (**)

It should go without saying I will not be recommending Apple products any longer.

(*) I've already re-disabled Siri, have begun removing devices linked to Apple HomeKit, and will delete the Home instance today. I'm moving everything that's using my Apple card off to another card and cancelling the card; removing our other cards from my Apple Wallet, and killing that. I will be downloading everything from iCloud, storing it locally, and no longer using either my iThings or iCloud for photos or documents. I'll no longer use iMessage for anything other than receiving 2FA tokens and will tell people either learn to use Signal Private Messenger or don't text me.

(**) Which had included a replacement iPad, up to two Mac computers, a fifth Apple TV, and possibly HomePods or HomePod Minis.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ensigmatic,

As I stated in the other thread, Google and MSFT have been doing this for awhile now. Unless you’re going to give up smartphones and computers entirely, you will accomplish nothing by leaving Apple.

This came known right after I made my switch from Apple. It is crazy the things they are doing now. Besides this they are moving to a way to add surveillance to Imessage supposedly to let parents get alerts for pictures kids receive.

Pinephone, Lightphone, or DeGoogled Phone for me now.

Isn't that illegal as well? (and I'm not talking about the privacy side of it)

"I'm looking for child porn.. but oh, it's not for me..."

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
As I stated in the other thread, Google and MSFT have been doing this for awhile now.

They have? Google and Microsoft have been installing scanning software on users' mobile devices and computers to scan them for content they deem inappropriate? Google and MS have been scanning text messages for objectionable content? You have cites for this?

The other thing is Apple led us all to believe we could trust them. This is a betrayal.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Unless you’re going to give up smartphones ...

Give them up? Probably not. Use them for a lot less than I have recently? You damn betcha!

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
... and computers entirely, you will accomplish nothing by leaving Apple.

Ah, you see: Our computers all run open-source software.

That will now remain that way.

Couple more related articles:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-p...sexual-abuse-images/

https://www.zerohedge.com/tech...-evidence-child-porn

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
As I stated in the other thread, Google and MSFT have been doing this for awhile now.

They have? Google and Microsoft have been installing scanning software on users' mobile devices and computers to scan them for content they deem inappropriate? Google and MS have been scanning text messages for objectionable content? You have cites for this?

The other thing is Apple led us all to believe we could trust them. This is a betrayal.

There’s this from the article that initially started this, posted in the other thread.

quote:

Tech companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook and others have for years been sharing digital fingerprints of known child sexual abuse images.

It is suspected that Apple has been doing this in China for a while now. Chinese laws dictate that electronic manufacturers have to provide backdoors to their products for monitoring by the state. This is also one of the reasons why there's no Google, Facebook or Twitter in China.

Having said that, I'm inclined to believe that Google will follow Apple's lead here shortly.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

quote:

Tech companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook and others have for years been sharing digital fingerprints of known child sexual abuse images.

That's for photos posted online. This is different than going into your phone and scan photos stored in it.

quote:

Originally posted by saigonsmuggler:

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

quote:

Tech companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook and others have for years been sharing digital fingerprints of known child sexual abuse images.

That's for photos posted online. This is different than going into your phone and scan photos stored in it.

Yep. There is a national level “organization” whose name I can’t remember offhand that tracks this sort of thing. Every image that is uploaded to the internet is assigned a hash value. Once a particular image has been identified as child porn, that hash number is known to the organization. So, if that hash number is “seen” being transferred around then it is known that the child porn is being transferred… or I suppose found.

Plus, this is apparently legally recognized and this prevents investigators from having to open the file, as long as the hash is previously verified.

Or so I recall from a course I took a few years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by saigonsmuggler:

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:

quote:

Tech companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook and others have for years been sharing digital fingerprints of known child sexual abuse images.

That's for photos posted online.

All the on-line places are doing that, as are all the cloud providers (e.g.: DropBox).

quote:

Originally posted by saigonsmuggler:
This is different than going into your phone and scan photos stored in it.

Yeah, just a little

Google and MS aren't/weren't scanning your text messages, either. Text messaging is handled directly by the carrier in the case of all but Apple. In Apple, everything goes through iMessage.

From the beginning, smart phones have never been about privacy and security. Any semblance of privacy and security died with Blackberry.
I guess you could say "Apple" is more secure than Android but that's not saying much. Whole industries are build around the (your) data these companies provide.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Google and MS aren't/weren't scanning your text messages, either. Text messaging is handled directly by the carrier

I'm sure they don't need to. At&t would gladly sell it to them.

I have a huge disdain for these companies in case you can't tell.

From what I've read this only affects photos in iCloud Photos, which is enabled by default, but always disabled by me. I have a 512 GB 11 Pro that I regularly backup to my iMac so I don't need to use iCloud much. I also synch movies and music directly from the iMac and don't use Apple Music.

Not sure if this affects photos that might be backed up using iCloud Backup as opposed to iCloud Photos. I do have iCloud backup activated on my personal devices (company blocks iCloud on my work phone) to help in case of loss or theft of the phone.

A lot of people leave iCloud Photos on by default and don't know to disable it. I helped a gf buy an iPhone X a couple years ago and got the one with the most memory because she said she was running out of space on the old phone. But she had left iCloud Photos on and after hitting the 5GB iCloud limit she got warnings that she was out of memory. Of course that didn't change with the new phone. Nice trick to get people to buy more iCloud storage. I have the 50 GB plan for $0.99 a month to have space for backups.

I think Apple will get enough push back on this to change their plans. Can't call yourself the most secure and private mobile device company and do this at the same time.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

In the meantime: I have begun taking measures (*) to prepare for my family's eventual separation from Apple…

To what end, outside of spending a lot of money to change ecosystems? Who is the Apple alternative that doesn’t come with similar or worse privacy concerns?

My brother works for a three letter agency. He once told me if you’re online at all, then you basically have no privacy. He didn’t give me specifics of how. I get that you don’t like this move by Apple, but all your measures (going Android, running Linux) is worthless as soon as you go online. If it makes you feel more secure, or you do it as a protest, then go for it. However, don’t believe for a second that your privacy cannot be compromised if you become a target for surveillance. That’s just the world we live in now. It sucks.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

This is a betrayal.

It sure is.

Given the White House now wants to “flag” inappropriate comments…

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a good article on this debacle (link) .

Those who are not willing to give up a little freedom for safety, deserve neither.