3 ms·

>Wow, we made Apple blink. Did we? I suspect the real issue the original client-side proposal had a lot of holes. What if the bad guys upload CSAM which hasn't

by yyyk 5y ago

>Wow, we made Apple blink. Did we? I suspect the real issue the original client-side proposal had a lot of holes. What if the bad guys upload CSAM which hasn't been tagged by NCMEC yet? What if they then delete it from the device (but keep it on iCloud)? Or what if they zip the CSAM images and backup that? In order to be even semi-effective, the client-side scanning has to be more invasive, or they have to implement server-side scanning too. Apple may well be looking whether they can implement this scanning without even more backlash.

stjohnswarts 5y ago
I don't think you're right. Apple didn't care about CSAM policing, it's just they weren't opposed to it and throwing governments a little bit of what they wanted to make them shut up. They thought this through very thoroughly. I read the whitepapers they put out on it. Clearly this wasn't done overnight by a confederacy of dunces. I think they thought they were picking a middle ground on surveillance and privacy (clearly they weren't as they broke the 4th wall of "this is my damn iphone you're scanning on!") . Anyway, they didn't want to be the police and they aren't going to be doing more to police your device as you are pointing out. They never cared if they caught anyone, just trying to make the US government a bit happier.
- yyyk 5y ago
  Apple may have thought this thorough technically, but politically I find it very unlikely the proposed method is a sufficiently effective scanning. Sooner or later government and NCMEC will push them to complete the feature (understandably so from their POV), and when they do, Apple will have to expand scanning. Apple may have already been pressured to do so. Sometimes choosing the middle ground is like choosing to drive on the white line in the middle of the road as a 'compromise' between the lanes.

3 ms·

>Wow, we made Apple blink. Did we? I suspect the real issue the original client-side proposal had a lot of holes. What if the bad guys upload CSAM which hasn't

by yyyk 5y ago

stjohnswarts 5y ago
I don't think you're right. Apple didn't care about CSAM policing, it's just they weren't opposed to it and throwing governments a little bit of what they wanted to make them shut up. They thought this through very thoroughly. I read the whitepapers they put out on it. Clearly this wasn't done overnight by a confederacy of dunces. I think they thought they were picking a middle ground on surveillance and privacy (clearly they weren't as they broke the 4th wall of "this is my damn iphone you're scanning on!") . Anyway, they didn't want to be the police and they aren't going to be doing more to police your device as you are pointing out. They never cared if they caught anyone, just trying to make the US government a bit happier.
- yyyk 5y ago
  Apple may have thought this thorough technically, but politically I find it very unlikely the proposed method is a sufficiently effective scanning. Sooner or later government and NCMEC will push them to complete the feature (understandably so from their POV), and when they do, Apple will have to expand scanning. Apple may have already been pressured to do so. Sometimes choosing the middle ground is like choosing to drive on the white line in the middle of the road as a 'compromise' between the lanes.