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Not really they are moving into homomorphic encryption where the entire query and processing is encrypted and Apple has no knowledge of the what you actually re
by flarex 2y ago
Not really they are moving into homomorphic encryption where the entire query and processing is encrypted and Apple has no knowledge of the what you actually requested.
- walterbell 2y agoFollowing through on a public privacy promise does not require R&D.
- TimSchumann 2y agoI was unaware there exists a fully homomorphic encryption scheme that has the right trade offs between security and computational effort to make this economically viable for even moderate to small workloads. I’ve always thought it was either far too time or far too space intensive to be practical. Do you have sources on this, either from Apple or academic papers of the scheme they’re planning on using?
- timenova 2y agoThey posted about this recently [0][1]. They are using Homomorphic Encryption in iOS 18 for Live Caller ID Lookups. [0] https://www.swift.org/blog/announcing-swift-homomorphic-encryption/ https://www.swift.org/blog/announcing-swift-homomorphic-encr... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41111129 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41111129
- rpdillon 2y agoI've posted about this above a little after you did. Reading the article, I'm unable to determine whether or not this has any practical utility outside of niche applications or if it has the potential to be broadly useful. Has anyone reviewed the SDK that can render an opinion?
- flarex 2y agoHomomorphic encryption is broadly useful and in fact should be ubiquitous for remote computation that leaks private data (not to comment specifically on Apple's implementation). They did open source it though, which gives you an idea that they want others to follow.
- saagarjha 2y agoCan you point to other ways this is used or is intended to be used?
- j2kun 2y agoIt's useful for situations that would otherwise be illegal, so that tradeoffs are less relevant.
- rpdillon 2y agoCompletely unclear how much they're moving into homomorphic encryption. The only resource I'm available to find about it is an announcement from 30 July saying that they can now do caller ID lookup using homomorphic encryption and they've announced an SDK that developers can use to leverage it. But the announcement is so vague that it's entirely unclear how much this can actually be used for practical workloads. And, the idea that they're going to go all in on homomorphic encryption is speculative based on what Apple has revealed so far. That's notable, as we're discussing a case where Apple said they would do something, and then not only didn't do it, but went out of their way to pretend that they never said they would.
- flarex 2y agoI'm not aware of any other company of Apple's size (or anywhere approaching) that have been as committed to privacy tech. Of course they are not perfect and sometimes get it wrong but they constantly release new technologies that are furthering our privacy. Who else does it better?
- 7jjjjjjj 2y agoThese companies shouldn't be graded on a curve. Everyone knows Microsoft is crap for privacy. But Apple has their reality distortion field, and it's important to show people that their privacy promises are BS.
- flarex 2y agoOkay but from an evolutionary sense which company should we be supporting. The one company that is somewhat moving towards privacy or the 10 others that don't give a shit. Which one should survive. Would you like to see companies that copy Apple's privacy approach or Facebook's dumb fucks approach.
- makeitdouble 2y agoIt comes down to what you identify as privacy. Apple is commited to not give your data to any other company and keep it protected in their ecosystem. They'll sell access to you for ads, but only exposing your cohort to the advertiser. From that lens, Google is also commited to never give your personal data (think Gmail content, Maps behaviour, pins etc) to other companies and keep it all in their ecosystem, for themselves only. Your data is their key advantage, the base of the ad empire, and they won't let another company run away with it. If we call Apple privacy focused, Google also fits the bill, the question just falls down on whether we see Apple or Google as part of our intimate circle, within our private life. I assume you do for Apple but not for Google.