> it could also mean that the very public failure of this project gave Apple leverage over whichever spooks were pushing for it in the first place. This is my

> it could also mean that the very public failure of this project gave Apple leverage over whichever spooks were pushing for it in the first place. This is my guess. I imagine it went something like this. Congressman: "So tim, FBI talked to me and want some help. Please find a way to check all pictures on iphone" Tim: "or no?" C: "We'll make it worth your while" T: "This goes against our marketing and history, it'll take a really big push. My team says we can manage X but we need to work with CSAM agency to handle optics. C: "Great!" T: "I was right, the public hates it and doesn't care about children, we're going back to our privacy stance in marketing because the backlash would out-due the political reward. We'll throw you under the bus if you push again on this. We totally want to help for real and not just because politics is a game and we have to play, but this cost is too high, even you can see this backlash and recognize we can't go threw with it. BTW thanks for giving us excuse to hire a few new expensive ML scientists from google or wherever. They got to write some nice papers." C:"Gotcha. See you next week for gulf when we try again at something new? There is this israeli company i want you to meet"