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> They aren’t scanning users devices. They are scanning images on iPhones and iPads prior to uploading those images to iCloud. If you're not uploading images t
by david_shaw 5y ago
> They aren’t scanning users devices.
They are scanning images on iPhones and iPads prior to uploading those images to iCloud. If you're not uploading images to iCloud, your photos won't be scanned -- but if you are using iCloud, Apple will absolutely check images on your device.
From Apple's Child Safety page:
> Apple’s method of detecting known CSAM is designed with user privacy in mind. Instead of scanning images in the cloud, the system performs on-device matching using a database of known CSAM image hashes provided by NCMEC and other child safety organizations. Apple further transforms this database into an unreadable set of hashes that is securely stored on users’ devices.
> Before an image is stored in iCloud Photos, an on-device matching process is performed for that image against the known CSAM hashes. This matching process is powered by a cryptographic technology called private set intersection, which determines if there is a match without revealing the result. The device creates a cryptographic safety voucher that encodes the match result along with additional encrypted data about the image. This voucher is uploaded to iCloud Photos along with the image.
Source: https://www.apple.com/child-safety/ https://www.apple.com/child-safety/
- zepto 5y ago> Apple will absolutely check images on your device. Yes, they will check the images you have chosen to upload. No ‘scanning is involved’. Claiming this is ‘scanning users devices’ is just dishonest - it’s obvious that it creates a false dichotomy impression of what they are actually doing. Don’t do that.
- swiley 5y agoWhat about when your iCloud account is full (the default storage size is useless if you enable any kind of backup) so the photos never get uploaded?
- zepto 5y agoRight.
- zekrioca 5y agoCheck == Scanning, because to create the output, the hash function needs to “scan” the whole blob.
- zepto 5y agoEven if we accept that. It is a lie to say the device is being scanned. It is definitely not. Only the photos the user chooses to upload are checked. That is not the device.
- zekrioca 5y agoIt is part of the device, and this specific part is being scanned. Can I physically remove this “checking” part and end up with a working iDevice D that resembles D = {{Device \ {/iCloud/Photo Library}}? Frame it the way you want. It is the device.
- zepto 5y agoThe checking is being done on the device. Nobody disputes that. Indeed it is being marketed by Apple as a feature. Yes, this feature is part of the device. If you say Apple is scanning the device, you are lying. They are not scanning the device. They are scanning photos chosen for upload.
- zekrioca 5y agoAnother commenter put it in better terms, so you may understand it: Suppose we know there are people who smuggle drugs on airplanes on their person for the purpose of something terrible, like addicting children or poisoning people. If I run an airport I could say: to stop this, I'm going to subject everyone who flies out of my airport to a body-cavity search. Tim, and Craig, are you OK with this? If I can say, "Don't worry! We have created this great robots that ensure the body cavity searches are gentle and the minimum needed to check for illegal drugs," does it really change anything to make it more acceptable to you?
- teclordphrack2 5y agoWhat about all the images already in the iCloud?
- durovo 5y agoYou spend almost too much time defending Apple[0]. If you have any association with them, you should probably disclose that first. 0. Check the comment history, every comment is defending Apple and this has been going on for many months (years?). In fact, I don't see any comment that is not defending Apple. I know I am making very serious allegations, but please go through the comment history to form your own opinion. I don't believe that the user is a bot though, most comments are 'well-reasoned'.
- JeremyHerrman 5y agoWow you're right - over the past 9 days zepto's generated ~5 pages of comments defending Apple's scanning. Why would one dedicate so much time and effort to rise to the defense of a trillion dollar company?
- zepto 5y agoI have a bunch of time on my hands right now. This is a good way to pass the time when for reasons beyond my control I can’t be working on projects.
- mthoms 5y ago9 days? Ha. It's been months (if not years) of this user vehemently defending Apple, regardless of what the issue at hand is. The amount of time he or she has invested in sticking up for Apple is astronomical.
- zepto 5y agoFirst of all, I have no affiliation with Apple, not do I own any Apple stock. Do you have any affiliations we should be aware of? Secondly, I haven’t ‘defended Apple’ in any comments. Indeed there are comments in which I make a judgement about this topic where I say that what Apple is doing is distasteful and offensive. Elsewhere I have pointed out that if Apple wants to scan people’s devices they have many other mechanisms at their fingertips than this narrowly tailored tool. What exactly do you think I’m ‘defending Apple’ from? Quite a few of my comments are critical of false or immaculate characterizations of what Apple is actually doing. If you consider that to be a defense of Apple, then I disagree. For the most part there just seems to be a lot of confusion about what Apple is doing, and general frustration about the state of computing. Do you really think of these as ‘attacks’ on Apple?