5 ms·

> The distinction there is that it's the server doing the matching and reporting, not the client. People expect remote servers to be accessible to government se

by kemayo 5y ago

> The distinction there is that it's the server doing the matching and reporting, not the client. People expect remote servers to be accessible to government searches, but not their own personal devices. Speaking solely for myself, I don't see a meaningful difference between these cases. They're both "content you upload to a server is scanned", with the only difference being that the scan happens immediately before upload rather than sometime after upload. My opinion would be notably changed if Apple was scanning content you're not uploading, but the current system doesn't seem to allow for that.

xur17 5y ago
The reason the distinction is meaningful here is that Apple end to end encrypts iCloud uploads, meaning that Apple does not have access to the files. Scanning on the device is this weird middleground where they do sort of have access, and in some cases might very well end up with access (false positives).
- kemayo 5y ago
  Apple doesn't end to end encrypt iCloud Photo uploads -- they do transfer and store them encrypted, but they still have a key to view them if they want to.
  - xur17 5y ago
    This [0] seems to indicate that they do: > iCloud secures your information by encrypting it when it's in transit, storing it in iCloud in an encrypted format, and using secure tokens for authentication. For certain sensitive information, Apple uses end-to-end encryption. This means that only you can access your information, and only on devices where you’re signed into iCloud. No one else, not even Apple, can access end-to-end encrypted information. [0] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303
    - kemayo 5y ago
      Read that support article again, it agrees with me. :-D There's a section "End-to-end encrypted data" which explicitly lists the things which are actually e2e, and iCloud Photos isn't on that list.
      - xur17 5y ago
        You are indeed correct, I totally missed that section.
croes 5y ago
The difference is you need just to change a flag in the process to scan all your pictures on the device no matter if iCloud or not. It's their software and you have only their promise they only scan pictures meant to be stored in the iCloud.

by kemayo 5y ago

xur17 5y ago

The reason the distinction is meaningful here is that Apple end to end encrypts iCloud uploads, meaning that Apple does not have access to the files. Scanning on the device is this weird middleground where they do sort of have access, and in some cases might very well end up with access (false positives).

kemayo 5y ago
Apple doesn't end to end encrypt iCloud Photo uploads -- they do transfer and store them encrypted, but they still have a key to view them if they want to.
- xur17 5y ago
  This [0] seems to indicate that they do: > iCloud secures your information by encrypting it when it's in transit, storing it in iCloud in an encrypted format, and using secure tokens for authentication. For certain sensitive information, Apple uses end-to-end encryption. This means that only you can access your information, and only on devices where you’re signed into iCloud. No one else, not even Apple, can access end-to-end encrypted information. [0] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202303
  - kemayo 5y ago
    Read that support article again, it agrees with me. :-D There's a section "End-to-end encrypted data" which explicitly lists the things which are actually e2e, and iCloud Photos isn't on that list.
    - xur17 5y ago
      You are indeed correct, I totally missed that section.

croes 5y ago

The difference is you need just to change a flag in the process to scan all your pictures on the device no matter if iCloud or not. It's their software and you have only their promise they only scan pictures meant to be stored in the iCloud.