5 ms·

The point of it is to make sure iCloud Photos remains a viable service in light of real and perceived regulatory threats, and possibly leave the door open to en

The point of it is to make sure iCloud Photos remains a viable service in light of real and perceived regulatory threats, and possibly leave the door open to end to end encryption in the future.

gpm 5y ago
There is no regulatory threat within the US that could require this happen, if this was demanded by the government it would be a blatant violation of the 4th amendment. Apple should have stood their ground if this was in response to perceived government pressure.
- dwaite 5y ago
  IMHO, the relevant regulations are pretty carefully worded to make 4th amendment defenses harder. In this case, Apple has some liability for criminal activity on their platform whether it is was E2E encrypted or not.
- matwood 5y ago
  There are two gov. issues. One is if the FBI comes knocking and the other is new laws. The government could absolutely write a law banning e2ee so that when the FBI does knock with a warrant they can get access. In the past, Apple has done what they can to stand their ground against the first, but they (like any other company) will have to comply with any laws passed. Whether the 'if a warrant is obtained the gov. should be granted access' law is a violation of the 4th amendment remains to be seen.
  - gpm 5y ago
    When the FBI does knock with a warrant they already get access to data on iCloud. iCloud is not meaningfully encrypted to prevent this. The FBI is unable to get a warrant to search data on everyones phones, regardless of what laws are passed. They might be able to get a warrant to search all the data on apple's server (I would consider this unlikely, but I don't know of precedent in either direction), but that data is fundamentally not on everyones phones. This isn't a novel legal question, you cannot search everyones devices without probable cause that "everyone" committed a crime.
jjcon 5y ago
So they open a huge back door instead of waiting for a threat and fighting that?
least 5y ago
This is a false dichotomy that is being pushed constantly online. E2EE is possible without this tech and in fact is only useful without tech like this to act as a MITM.

The point of it is to make sure iCloud Photos remains a viable service in light of real and perceived regulatory threats, and possibly leave the door open to end to end encryption in the future.

gpm 5y ago

There is no regulatory threat within the US that could require this happen, if this was demanded by the government it would be a blatant violation of the 4th amendment. Apple should have stood their ground if this was in response to perceived government pressure.

dwaite 5y ago
IMHO, the relevant regulations are pretty carefully worded to make 4th amendment defenses harder. In this case, Apple has some liability for criminal activity on their platform whether it is was E2E encrypted or not.
matwood 5y ago
There are two gov. issues. One is if the FBI comes knocking and the other is new laws. The government could absolutely write a law banning e2ee so that when the FBI does knock with a warrant they can get access. In the past, Apple has done what they can to stand their ground against the first, but they (like any other company) will have to comply with any laws passed. Whether the 'if a warrant is obtained the gov. should be granted access' law is a violation of the 4th amendment remains to be seen.
- gpm 5y ago
  When the FBI does knock with a warrant they already get access to data on iCloud. iCloud is not meaningfully encrypted to prevent this. The FBI is unable to get a warrant to search data on everyones phones, regardless of what laws are passed. They might be able to get a warrant to search all the data on apple's server (I would consider this unlikely, but I don't know of precedent in either direction), but that data is fundamentally not on everyones phones. This isn't a novel legal question, you cannot search everyones devices without probable cause that "everyone" committed a crime.

jjcon 5y ago

So they open a huge back door instead of waiting for a threat and fighting that?

least 5y ago

This is a false dichotomy that is being pushed constantly online. E2EE is possible without this tech and in fact is only useful without tech like this to act as a MITM.