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Just swap out the child abuse hashes for Tiananmen square photo hashes and january 6th insurrection photo hashes and you got yourself some pretty dystopian tech

Just swap out the child abuse hashes for Tiananmen square photo hashes and january 6th insurrection photo hashes and you got yourself some pretty dystopian technology. Wow, come to think of it, will the hash database on your device change when traveling between countries? A popular photo of two women kissing on your phone could be perfectly legal in the US, but suddenly get you jailed if you travel through Saudi Arabia and forget to delete it.

ju-st 5y ago
Hash database checks would be a privacy friendly alternative to custom agents physically accessing your phone when you enter a country. This would be more efficient as well, so checking 100% of travellers phones (and connected cloud storages) would be possible. A very effective way of protecting your country from IS terrorists!
- vaylian 5y ago
  > A very effective way of protecting your country from IS terrorists! I sense irony. But I'll still reply: > Hash database checks would be a privacy friendly alternative to custom agents physically accessing your phone when you enter a country The border agent could always claim that their system detected something and therefore they need to look through all your private files.
nmeofthestate 5y ago
> the hash database on your device Is there one? Reading a BBC News story on this, it sounds like checking is done when you try to upload an image to iCloud, so it's on the server.
- jhayward 5y ago
  If you use an Apple phone as intended every photo you take is automatically uploaded to iCloud. It takes no usr action and does not imply an intent to share or distribute the photo.
- fragileone 5y ago
  The database and check is on your device, and triggered when you try to upload. There is not much point to moving scanning to the device-side, unless this technology is intended to be extended so that in the future it doesn't check for an iCloud upload trigger.
  - cwkoss 5y ago
    I wonder how much local storage space is used to support this self-incrimination application?
    - fragileone 5y ago
      Not much actually since it's just strings of hashes. It will however use CPU cycles when it hashes your device's photos.
farmerstan 5y ago
^^^^^ THIS THIS THIS THIS!! How will this work when traveling? If I have legal non-CSAM pornography, but I travel to another country where pornography is completely illegal, will I get arrested? Who controls the hashes? When do the hashes get updated? Fuck I feel so betrayed by Apple.
- EnlightenedBro 5y ago
  Time to switch to Graphene OS my man.
commandlinefan 5y ago
That's the thing - if Apple can do this, they will do this. If the U.S. government will do this, they will do this. If the CCP can do this, they will do this. Complaining, protesting, boycotting, even passing laws won't matter - if they can do this, they will do this. The only way to stop it is to make it impossible - Tor, Freenet, I2P, etc. I don't hold much hope that truly encrypted, unbreakable networks will actually take off, though... because in an actually unbreakable network, the kind of censorship that people support is as impossible as the kind of censorship that people oppose.
noptd 5y ago
If macOS is any indication, I bet the next iteration will send your picture rehashes to Apple's servers. Then all they need to do is pass some location data (if they don't already) and checking against location-specific hash databases becomes trivial.

ju-st 5y ago

Hash database checks would be a privacy friendly alternative to custom agents physically accessing your phone when you enter a country. This would be more efficient as well, so checking 100% of travellers phones (and connected cloud storages) would be possible. A very effective way of protecting your country from IS terrorists!

vaylian 5y ago
> A very effective way of protecting your country from IS terrorists! I sense irony. But I'll still reply: > Hash database checks would be a privacy friendly alternative to custom agents physically accessing your phone when you enter a country The border agent could always claim that their system detected something and therefore they need to look through all your private files.

nmeofthestate 5y ago

> the hash database on your device Is there one? Reading a BBC News story on this, it sounds like checking is done when you try to upload an image to iCloud, so it's on the server.

jhayward 5y ago
If you use an Apple phone as intended every photo you take is automatically uploaded to iCloud. It takes no usr action and does not imply an intent to share or distribute the photo.
fragileone 5y ago
The database and check is on your device, and triggered when you try to upload. There is not much point to moving scanning to the device-side, unless this technology is intended to be extended so that in the future it doesn't check for an iCloud upload trigger.
- cwkoss 5y ago
  I wonder how much local storage space is used to support this self-incrimination application?
  - fragileone 5y ago
    Not much actually since it's just strings of hashes. It will however use CPU cycles when it hashes your device's photos.

farmerstan 5y ago

^^^^^ THIS THIS THIS THIS!! How will this work when traveling? If I have legal non-CSAM pornography, but I travel to another country where pornography is completely illegal, will I get arrested? Who controls the hashes? When do the hashes get updated? Fuck I feel so betrayed by Apple.

EnlightenedBro 5y ago
Time to switch to Graphene OS my man.

commandlinefan 5y ago

That's the thing - if Apple can do this, they will do this. If the U.S. government will do this, they will do this. If the CCP can do this, they will do this. Complaining, protesting, boycotting, even passing laws won't matter - if they can do this, they will do this. The only way to stop it is to make it impossible - Tor, Freenet, I2P, etc. I don't hold much hope that truly encrypted, unbreakable networks will actually take off, though... because in an actually unbreakable network, the kind of censorship that people support is as impossible as the kind of censorship that people oppose.

noptd 5y ago

If macOS is any indication, I bet the next iteration will send your picture rehashes to Apple's servers. Then all they need to do is pass some location data (if they don't already) and checking against location-specific hash databases becomes trivial.