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The privacy implications are fucking horrible. As an Android user I'd love to gloat, after all Apple have really had the upper edge on privacy so far, and thei

The privacy implications are fucking horrible. As an Android user I'd love to gloat, after all Apple have really had the upper edge on privacy so far, and their users have not been shy about telling us. Again and again. However any pleasure would be as short lived as peeing your pants to keep warm in winter, because if Apple proceeds, Google is bound to follow. A user monitoring system like this is just ripe for abuse of the most horrific kinds. It must die.

judge2020 5y ago
Google Photos runs PhotoDNA on all photos there, so it’s no different from Apple scanning photos destined for iCloud photos with similar tech. I guess the only pushback is that apple has decided to do it on-device (still only to photos going to iCloud Photos) instead of server-side, where they have to disable E2EE to do so?
- formerly_proven 5y ago
  iCloud Photos are not end-to-end encrypted in the first place.
  - judge2020 5y ago
    This opens the door to doing so. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28081863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28081863
- wayneftw 5y ago
  > I guess the only pushback is that apple has decided to do it on-device. This is exactly what my problem is. They are using my CPU, battery time and network bandwidth to do this when they should be using their own resources. I know I can turn off iCloud but I am paying for that and we already have an agreement in place. Honestly, it's the only concrete thing to complain about. Every other complaint is based on a what-if, slippery slope concern. Of course, as per usual, nobody agrees with me here on HN... but that's fine with me because they simply don't reply which lets me know that they don't have any good arguments against my PoV.
  - jazzyjackson 5y ago
    Consider it’s not very interesting to argue with someone who is set in their ways, and the lack of counter argument is a lack of interest, not a superiority of viewpoint. Anyway I agree with you, and have been curious what the neural net hardware on the new iPhone will be used for. Turns out it’s for checking my photo library for child abuse, how futuristic!
    - wayneftw 5y ago
      > Consider it’s not very interesting to argue with someone who is set in their ways, and the lack of counter argument is a lack of interest, not a superiority of viewpoint. I have yet to hear a good counter argument though. If I had heard one, I would have changed my mind. So, I don't think I'm set in my ways. (I actually change my mind often when presented with new evidence!) I will always consider downvotes without argumentation to be a lazy way of disagreeing and the people who do that I think are set in their ways. Until I hear otherwise, I will continue to consider my argument as superior. Does anyone really change their mind until they hear a counter to what they already think? I don't think so... I already argued with myself and came up with my opinion on this, so really - I need external arguments to change my mind just like everyone else.
      - stagger87 5y ago
        You're being downvoted for eschewing website guidelines. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
        wayneftw 5y ago
        Oh yeah? Which one? I kind of doubt it because I've been censored for simply asking very straightforward questions with zero adjectives.
        mrtranscendence 5y ago
        "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."
- notsureaboutpg 5y ago
  >I guess the only pushback is that apple has decided to do it on-device (still only to photos going to iCloud Photos) instead of server-side, where they have to disable E2EE to do so? Apple will scan only iCloud photos and when a certain threshold of "illegal" images is found, they will start scanning non-iCloud photos and disabling encryption to do so.
- Zak 5y ago
  There's a huge difference between Apple scanning files that are on Apple's servers and Apple putting spyware on your encrypted device.
stephen_g 5y ago
Well, I mean if Gmail has already done this kind of scanning for years (as is reported) then you’d assume Google Photos probably already does too if you sync it to their cloud (as does iCloud on the server side). But yeah, client side is a whole different thing…
- hef19898 5y ago
  Out of curiosity, how does Samsung Knox handle privacy?
thunkshift1 5y ago
What if you choose not to upload photos to iCloud?
- snowwrestler 5y ago
  According to Apple, photos are only checked in the process of being uploaded. So if you don’t upload, no check either.

judge2020 5y ago

Google Photos runs PhotoDNA on all photos there, so it’s no different from Apple scanning photos destined for iCloud photos with similar tech. I guess the only pushback is that apple has decided to do it on-device (still only to photos going to iCloud Photos) instead of server-side, where they have to disable E2EE to do so?

formerly_proven 5y ago
iCloud Photos are not end-to-end encrypted in the first place.
- judge2020 5y ago
  This opens the door to doing so. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28081863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28081863
wayneftw 5y ago
> I guess the only pushback is that apple has decided to do it on-device. This is exactly what my problem is. They are using my CPU, battery time and network bandwidth to do this when they should be using their own resources. I know I can turn off iCloud but I am paying for that and we already have an agreement in place. Honestly, it's the only concrete thing to complain about. Every other complaint is based on a what-if, slippery slope concern. Of course, as per usual, nobody agrees with me here on HN... but that's fine with me because they simply don't reply which lets me know that they don't have any good arguments against my PoV.
- jazzyjackson 5y ago
  Consider it’s not very interesting to argue with someone who is set in their ways, and the lack of counter argument is a lack of interest, not a superiority of viewpoint. Anyway I agree with you, and have been curious what the neural net hardware on the new iPhone will be used for. Turns out it’s for checking my photo library for child abuse, how futuristic!
  - wayneftw 5y ago
    > Consider it’s not very interesting to argue with someone who is set in their ways, and the lack of counter argument is a lack of interest, not a superiority of viewpoint. I have yet to hear a good counter argument though. If I had heard one, I would have changed my mind. So, I don't think I'm set in my ways. (I actually change my mind often when presented with new evidence!) I will always consider downvotes without argumentation to be a lazy way of disagreeing and the people who do that I think are set in their ways. Until I hear otherwise, I will continue to consider my argument as superior. Does anyone really change their mind until they hear a counter to what they already think? I don't think so... I already argued with myself and came up with my opinion on this, so really - I need external arguments to change my mind just like everyone else.
    - stagger87 5y ago
      You're being downvoted for eschewing website guidelines. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - wayneftw 5y ago
        Oh yeah? Which one? I kind of doubt it because I've been censored for simply asking very straightforward questions with zero adjectives.
        mrtranscendence 5y ago
        "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading."
notsureaboutpg 5y ago
>I guess the only pushback is that apple has decided to do it on-device (still only to photos going to iCloud Photos) instead of server-side, where they have to disable E2EE to do so? Apple will scan only iCloud photos and when a certain threshold of "illegal" images is found, they will start scanning non-iCloud photos and disabling encryption to do so.
Zak 5y ago
There's a huge difference between Apple scanning files that are on Apple's servers and Apple putting spyware on your encrypted device.

stephen_g 5y ago

Well, I mean if Gmail has already done this kind of scanning for years (as is reported) then you’d assume Google Photos probably already does too if you sync it to their cloud (as does iCloud on the server side). But yeah, client side is a whole different thing…

hef19898 5y ago
Out of curiosity, how does Samsung Knox handle privacy?

thunkshift1 5y ago

What if you choose not to upload photos to iCloud?

snowwrestler 5y ago
According to Apple, photos are only checked in the process of being uploaded. So if you don’t upload, no check either.