Apple Introducing New Child Safety Features, Including Scanning Users' Photo Libraries for Known Sexual Abuse Material

[MozMan68]

Wow...this blew up fast.

Everyone calm down...this is obviously a feature that one would have to turn on. You will all still be able to get nudes from whomever you want without Apple butting in every time.

I think it's great for parent's to have this option to protect their kids from unwanted pics (or wanted but inappropruate for their age.)

 

[usagora]

But I don’t want my photos “reviewed” by an Apple employee to begin with……….. even if it’s a false positive.

1 in 1 trillion chance that even 1 photo will be falsely flagged on your account (according to article).

 

[AVonGauss]

Deleted.

 

[Mydel]

Comments on this post are half of the reason why fake news spreads. Sometimes, organisations spread sensationalist headlines to increase virality.

But sometimes, people don't even read the damn article - ONLY THE HEADLINE. @arn and others have been pretty clear in some responses, "the ONLY images being flagged are those whose hashes match a database that is maintained by those who combat child exploitation."

Yes but that mean Apple will be scanning your photos. And trust me soon its gonna be completly different justification of the invasion. That is the reason I do not use any cloud service. Apple or any other

 

[Cosmosent]

I sense the iPhone 13 family may be the first Apple products that are Boycott worldwide !

 

[Mebsat]

The nose is in the tent. Obviously, preventing child exploitation is a laudable goal.

But this method is a complete reversal of Apple being a defender of privacy. Now all local content can be scanned against a database of hashes for known "bad content". This can easily be tweaked to include speech or political leaning or other private info. This mechanism should be called the "Big Brother Engine".

I will have to look more closely at the implementation, but from what I have read so far, this will likely be the end of my customer relationship with Apple.

 

[usagora]

Ohh ok so it's just random apple execs or government employees looking at my nudes, that's fine then.

Privacy, that's iPhone rofl

I find it hilarious that I simply post a screenshot from the article and get all these negative reactions. WTF is wrong with some of you people? 🤣

 

[Apple_Robert]

That's a ******** argument. That's like arguing you bought a Tesla, but when you agreed to a software update it was okay for Tesla to start charging you .10 additional per mile driven because you consented to the update being installed.

People need to start reading the user agreement, instead of blindly clicking on agree every time.

If Apple defines the new parameters of the update in the user agreement, and the user of the phone doesn't bother to read before installing, said user can't rightfully complain about invasion of privacy when Apple disclosed the facts ahead of time and gave power to the user to freely install or to not agree and not install.

Invasion of privacy would be involved if Apple included the new features in an update without disclosing those facts and without giving the user the option to agree or not.

 

[Biro]

The only people who should be opposed to these specific features are people who are committing crimes, and people who don’t care about the safety of their children.

You mean "If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear"? Both the Nazis and the Communists used that line a lot. You sound like a one-issue voter.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I don't have enough storage to store all the data into my iPhone.

Store on your Mac.

 

[Mydel]

How can you detach iCloud from your phone and use another cloud service? Also, how can you install Little Snitch on an iPhone to block outbound traffic to apple.com?

Thatbis easy. You just disable in settings thenicloud photo. I would not keep any photos online. Just keep them locally or on yourbown server/NAS. You cant block the traffic easily. Problem is that you need apple servers for other daily things

 

[Maclver]

How long are we giving until the first lawsuit is filled?

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Apple has crossed the line. I understand that on the surface their intentions are good. But in practice this just screams invasion of privacy. Just one false positive can ruin a person's life.

I have a couple of pictures of my son playing with duckies in the bathtub as a one year old, there's probably some nudity in 2-3 pics, if we were to adhere to strict definitions. How can I be assured that I won't be flagged or put on some creep watchlist? This is completely out of line.

You’re cute son rubber ducky pictures are not gonna be in a database of Child exploitation images.
READ THE ARTICLE!!!
If you simply just have pictures of your kids having fun, you don’t have anything to worry about.
If you have *known* images of child exploitation, then you should be in jail and you definitely have a lot to worry about.

 

[bwillwall]

People need to start reading the user agreement, instead of blindly clicking on agree every time.

If Apple defines the new parameters of the update in the user agreement, and the user of the phone doesn't bother to read before installing, said user can't rightfully complain about invasion of privacy when Apple disclosed the facts ahead of time and gave power to the user to freely install or to not agree and not install.

Invasion of privacy would be involved if Apple included the new features in an update without disclosing those facts and without giving the user the option to agree or not.

Sorry but even if I read the terms what good is that? You either agree to them or you don't exist in the digital age. You have one other choice though, Google.

 

[Mydel]

Let me just ask: How are they going to personally review a picture they don’t have access to? I’m just asking because I don’t know how this can be done.

They do have access. Your files in the cloud are encrypted with key that apple is in posession. They can decrypt any file on their server

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

"Think of the children".. the battle cry of those with questionable motives.

That being said, if this ends up rolling out, I'll be dumping ALL my Apple ecosystem.

Dumping your ecosystem… and going where exactly?
As pointed out earlier in this exact thread, this is not anything new. Other companies have been doing this for in some cases over a decade.
Either way, you shouldn’t be worried at all if you aren’t guilty

 

[forerunnerg34]

Hey people, even if there are false positives, even if is not well implemented. We are talking about children, this could help discouraging criminal networks and monsters, this is a step (small or large) to protect children. Don't you think tracking down abusers based on a known database of images is more important than you worrying about your nudes?.. even you talk from ignorance (because you didn't read the article) some of the comments here show the decadence and selfishness of us, humans.

 

[silver25u]

The chance that even ONE of your personal photos will be falsely flagged by this technology according to the article is 1 in 1 trillion.

100% chance that this is just step 1 to scanning our content for other types of content at the behest of law enforcement/government. Once the camel has their nose under the tent....

 

[Deguello]

“Apple is not sharing what its exact threshold is, but ensures an "extremely high level of accuracy" that accounts are not incorrectly flagged.

People who support the 4th, 5th, or 6th Amendments, or encryption, or whatever other factor that makes catching or prosecuting criminals more difficult aren’t siding with criminals. They’re siding with principle.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Sorry but even if I read the terms what good is that? You either agree to them or you don't exist in the digital age. You have one other choice though, Google.

If you read the terms and decide you don't like them and click on agree anyway. you aren't a victim of Apple or any other company. You have other options.

 

[jarman92]

Hey people, even if there are false positives, even if is not well implemented. We are talking about children, this could help discouraging criminal networks and monsters, this is a step (small or large) to protect children. Don't you think tracking down abusers based on a known database of images is more important than you worrying about your nudes?.. even you talk from ignorance (because you didn't read the article) some of the comments here show the decadence and selfishness of us, humans.

Omg 🤦🏼‍♂️ so many people would justify literally anything with "THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN!" It's straight out of the QAnon playbook.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I will be boycotting Apple for lying to me about my device's security and their commitment to privacy. I have nothing to hide but I shouldn't have to think about whether or not I could accidentally trigger a filter with innocent pictures and get my data sent to the government. **** off with that, Apple. Bye.

Apple hasn’t lied to you about anything.
They announced this set of features coming in a future update, and when you install that update you have to agree to the terms and conditions.
When you buy your phone, you have to agree to the terms and conditions.
And again, if you read the article, you would know that unless you have known pictures of child exploitation, you shouldn’t have anything to worry about

 

[boswald]

So I just disable iCloud photos?

EDIT: Adjusted due to statement from Apple.

 

[silver25u]

Hey people, even if there are false positives, even if is not well implemented. We are talking about children, this could help discouraging criminal networks and monsters, this is a step (small or large) to protect children. Don't you think tracking down abusers based on a known database of images is more important than you worrying about your nudes?.. even you talk from ignorance (because you didn't read the article) some of the comments here show the decadence and selfishness of us, humans.

so I guess why have that whole "innocent until proven guilty" concept of and rights for suspected criminals since they obviously get in the way of "protecting children." Hey, why not just let the government search all our devices all the time since that would help protect children right?

/sarcasm. Anyone saying "but the children" deserve zero rights.

 

[4jasontv]

You know that user agreement everyone just clicks on "accept" for when installing an update? That stuff is actually real and legally binding. Just saying.

And Apple claiming to protect user privacy could be seen as fraudulently misleading terms of the contract. Since the T&C don't require one to wait the amount of time reasonable to read it Apple could be accused of misleading customers with public statements and then hiding language in a document designed to ignore. Since Apple doesn't allow one to perform partial updates an argument could be made that there is a violation of mutuality of obligation.

Also, there is the question of who agreed to the terms and who is using the device. Anyone who lets their grandkid set their phone up, or had their device configured by the VZW rep while they went to get something to eat at Red Robbin or whatever, never had the chance to agree to the terms.