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Unpopular opinion: I think the outrage over this is quite overblown. This kind of hash checking is done by damn near all cloud providers - Google Photos, Dropb
by jpxw 5y ago
Unpopular opinion: I think the outrage over this is quite overblown.
This kind of hash checking is done by damn near all cloud providers - Google Photos, Dropbox, Gmail, Discord, Reddit, OneDrive, Facebook, Twitter, you name it. Apple have actually been very reluctant to implement this.
If you don’t like it, you don’t need to enable iCloud Photos. In the exact same way as if you don’t want your images scanned by Dropbox, you don’t upload the photos to Dropbox. It seems reasonable for Apple to implement something like to prevent iCloud becoming a repository for CSAM.
Edit: I’m unable to respond to the comment below this about hashes being performed locally, as I’m rate limited, but here’s my response anyway: The hashes are calculated on the local device, but only for photos which are about to be uploaded to iCloud Photos. The hashes are sent with the photos to iCloud. If a certain number of hashes in someone’s iCloud match (calculated using private set intersection), a manual review will be performed.
- thinkingemote 5y agoIt's being done on the local device, not just the cloud.
- marcellus23 5y agoWhy does it matter where the scanning is done, if the scans are done to the same content under the same circumstances?
- jbuhbjlnjbn 5y agoiphone user != icloud user When you use a cloud service, you must (should) be aware of the consequence of your files being stored on another computer on the internet. Until now, your local files on your device were not scanned in an inscrutable manner. This is a precedent.
- marcellus23 5y agoBut it’s still only cloud photos being scanned. The only photos on your device being scanned are ones that are being uploaded to the cloud. So again, what’s the practical difference?
- matwood 5y agoThere is none. I partly blame apple for putting these 3 distinct features into the same PR doc, news articles that are flat out wrong, and commenters for not reading the original source. Because it’s apple and privacy, people immediately lose all semblance of understanding it seems. There are some valid slippery slope arguments to be made. But, the feature as described and implemented today actually increases privacy for CSAM scanning.
- jbuhbjlnjbn 5y agoIf the scan remained in the cloud, it could not be misused to spy on anything else but the uploads. But if it runs on the device and sends findings, it fits the definition of spyware.
- marcellus23 5y agoThat argument just makes no sense. Apple already controls your device and software.
- matwood 5y agoNot sure why you're downvoted (too many facts in one post I guess lol), but you're right. I wanted to add that Apple has already been doing CSAM scanning on photos uploaded to iCloud for years. They moved it to the client instead (I think in preparation in make iCloud photos e2e encrypted). Turn off iCloud photos and it turns off CSAM.