7 ms·
I don't think we can just appeal to the status quo here and assume it's acceptable. There's a couple reasons. First, how many people really understood this pre
by foerbert 5y ago
I don't think we can just appeal to the status quo here and assume it's acceptable. There's a couple reasons.
First, how many people really understood this previously? Did society at large actually knowingly accept the current state of things, or did it just happen without most people realizing it? Even here on HN where we'd expect to find people way more knowledgeable about it than in general I'm not sure how well known it was about what was actually happening, though I'd assume most would be aware it was possible.
Secondly, there's a significant difference between your own device or Apple's server doing this. On the technical side of things, right now, it might not matter that much since it currently is limited to things you upload to iCloud. But more philosophically, it's your own device being turned against you to check you for criminal behavior. That's very different from somebody else checking up on you after you willingly interact with them.
- endisneigh 5y ago> But more philosophically, it's your own device being turned against you to check you for criminal behavior. That's very different from somebody else checking up on you after you willingly interact with them. This literally only works once you willing send photos to iCloud.
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoYou can't buy a car in EU that doesn't have a sim card. All Tractors have a computer that locks out the machine if it doesn't like something and phones home. Almost every TV on sale is 'smart' and spies on what you are saying. Coffee machines, lights and toasters are now internet connected, and all of them send data to a server that will be scanning for the 'wrong' material. in 10 years there will be nowhere to hide.
- simondotau 5y ago> You can't buy a car in EU that doesn't have a sim card. Wait, what?
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoIts used for an emergency rescue system, and i believe it's mandatory in all new cars https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/its/road/action_plan/ecall_en https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/its/road/action_plan/e...
- stjohnswarts 5y agoFor now. There is no technical hurdle preventing them from scanning everything locally and reporting back.
- shuckles 5y agoThere wasn’t such a hurdle before or in the counterfactual where they built infrastructure to scan iCloud while also keeping iCloud Backups for every device.
- nodamage 5y agoI mean, that has always been the case. I'm not sure why there is so much paranoia over this hypothetical situation when this hypothetical has actually existed since the first iPhone shipped in 2007.
- foerbert 5y agoRight. I mentioned that. It's still your own device doing it. It's like announcing to your family member you're going to tell your neighbor you committed a crime and your family member turns you in first. Yeah, you could expect your neighbor to do the same, but are you really not going to feel any differently about the fact it was your family that turned you in?
- nonbirithm 5y agoIf the problem is a lack of understanding of the status quo, then it isn't fair to criticize Apple alone. People ought to demand answers about the state of server-side scanning from Facebook and Microsoft and everyone else that employs PhotoDNA as well. The most popular article submitted to HN with "PhotoDNA" in the title garnered hardly any interest at all, even though someone there implied that a hash collision might be possible five years in advance. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11636502 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11636502