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Brit here. It’ll never happen - WhatsApp, Apple and Signal etc are all united, our political situation is not so good, they won’t run the risk of apps and services being pulled as the government would collapse. Some say it’s overdue but hey!
 
Interesting times for this die-hard Apple user - historically so. In grasping for a metaphor for this situation (for indeed it's a wider garden of a situation than the narrow bed of UK politics and culture or Apple's lavish rose beds) I draw on dystopian Blade Runner. Is Deckard the agent of the self-righteous Apple user? Is Huawei a "replicant"? And what about Hannibal Chew, a genetic designer specializing in making eyeballs for Tyrell Corp, but a metaphor for the mysto Wild West steamy marketeer of SK hynix chips uncovered in Huwaei's astoundingly advanced "breakthrough" Mate 60 Pro phones? (https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/06/tech/huawei-mate-60-pro-phone/index.html). For better or worse, the masses will speak and Apple and its niche on privacy as a marketing device is not the masses.
 
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I am with the UK government on this. They have asked social media companies to stop child abuse images/videos from appearing on their platforms and they have not done so to a level that appeases the UK government. All of them have dragged their feet year after year not coming up with viable solutions to stop child abuse images/video from appearing on their platforms. It was a number of years ago I think that the UK government told the companies to get their act together or the government will be forced to step in and do it for them. The images and videos continued to be posted on their platforms so the UK government decided to act. People all over the world complain about schools not taking action against bullies or assaults' against children or teachers. People complain about local councils not taking action against rogue builders or landlords and what is the one things that is common to each? those affected say 'deal with the problem otherwise I will be forced to take action myself'. If the ordinary man and woman on the street do it, why can't the UK government? The social media companies were warned. They had a number of years to come up with viable and credible solutions to stop abuse images and videos from appearing on their platforms. They didn't take the threat seriously therefore they did virtually nothing and now they complain when a government steps in to do something the companies were asked to do themselves. Therefore what did the social media companies expect was going to happen? that the UK government was going to allow these social media platforms to continue to host child abuse images and videos? not likely. You reap what you sow.
You’re conflating social media with private messages (presumably sent via iMessage). Sounds like you’d release all of your freedoms if you felt you gained security in return. History has shown how that notion has played out over and over and over and over…
 
I am with the UK government on this. They have asked social media companies to stop child abuse images/videos from appearing on their platforms and they have not done so to a level that appeases the UK government. All of them have dragged their feet year after year not coming up with viable solutions to stop child abuse images/video from appearing on their platforms. It was a number of years ago I think that the UK government told the companies to get their act together or the government will be forced to step in and do it for them. The images and videos continued to be posted on their platforms so the UK government decided to act. People all over the world complain about schools not taking action against bullies or assaults' against children or teachers. People complain about local councils not taking action against rogue builders or landlords and what is the one things that is common to each? those affected say 'deal with the problem otherwise I will be forced to take action myself'. If the ordinary man and woman on the street do it, why can't the UK government? The social media companies were warned. They had a number of years to come up with viable and credible solutions to stop abuse images and videos from appearing on their platforms. They didn't take the threat seriously therefore they did virtually nothing and now they complain when a government steps in to do something the companies were asked to do themselves. Therefore what did the social media companies expect was going to happen? that the UK government was going to allow these social media platforms to continue to host child abuse images and videos? not likely. You reap what you sow.
Apple isn’t a social media company. I think asking Facebook to remove questionable images that are shared publicly is different than asking Apple to scan every photo on our iPhone.
 
I'm a dad and try to follow child abuse scandals. It looks like you have plenty of these in the UK as well. Do you really feel like the biggest problem in preventing these is lack of access to messengers? If someone is committed enough to abuse children, why wouldn't they just download an APK of Signal on a burner phone?

And that's before we get to pedo rings, which many consider a fringe QAnon conspiracy theory, or at most a one-off thing involving Epstein and Donald Trump and nobody else. But just look what happens when people actually try to investigate one of these rings right in the middle of Europe (!!): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Dutroux#Deaths_of_potential_witnesses
 
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All governments pass laws purporting to protect against one thing and then the police and DAs extend it to apply to other behaviors they don’t like. This was an issue with Apple’s on device scanning. There was no protection against governments manipulating the hash databases with other images that they had interest in.
 
I agree, and once they have it it is a short walk to looking for other stuff, in the name of security.



In the US, everything the right doesn’t like is socialist, and do not see the irony in collecting their welfare check while condemning socialism.
If it was about surveillance of LGBT individuals then it would be what Jesus and Reagan would have done and totally justified because they’re all offenders for just existing.

Whatever puts any limits or restrictions on them is whatever bad word comes to mind, socialism, communism, racism, discrimination, fascism, you name it.

“For me but not for thee”, that’s always been their agenda.
 
My government really is packed with the thickest greediest corrupt £&*@ers around.

They’re clueless on tech and have some dumb country bumpkin think trying to turn us into Russia will please the boomers.

cant Wait for next years election To get these clowns out And leave the tech talk to someone actually qualified Hopefully.
 
I fear pulling out of the UK and the EU for US tech companies could become the norm in the future.
Good. Once enough of them do it, these morons will backtrack because they'll have zero technology. Imagine trying to live in a country with no iOS, no Android, no Windows, no macOS, etc. These tech companies have to put an end to this BS by just leaving.
 
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No government should have the right to read personal messages. We are moving more and more to socialism!
Umm...what? Socialism is an economic system just like capitalism. Neither has anything to do with privacy. Perhaps you meant authoritarianism, which is a system of rule in which citizens are required to give up personal privacy and other liberties.
 
I am not sure what the big deal is as you should always assume that your personal messages will be seen by others. Governments and Big Tech will always compete and play their games.

There is a reason why they say: "Put it where everyone can see it and nobody will be able to see it." or "The real management is the management that you are unable to see." These are the things that people probably should be more interested in and pay attention to.
 
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Good. Once enough of them do it, these morons will backtrack because they'll have zero technology. Imagine trying to live in a country with no iOS, no Android, no Windows, no macOS, etc. These tech companies have to put an end to this BS by just leaving.
Hmmm, you do realise that Apple use ARM’s chips don’t you?
Saying they could pull out and everything would be fine is like saying pulling all the manufacturing from China would come with no consequence.
 
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I am not sure what the big deal is as you should always assume that your personal messages will be seen by others. Governments and Big Tech will always compete and play their games.

There is a reason why they say: "Put it where everyone can see it and nobody will be able to see it." or "The real management is the management that you are unable to see." These are the things that people probably should be more interested in and pay attention to.
While yes I agree with you partially while somewhere like in a private setting..the UK wanting to scan encrypted data is another level, basically defeats the purpose of encryption
 
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This was doomed from the start. The Act itself will get read and passed through the final stages and no doubt reach Royal Assent, but the terms that effectively require the breaking of encryption will not be present, or will be worded in such a way as to be "in the future" or otherwise kicked down the road. This was always going to be the outcome. The tech companies get their wanted result: no dilution of encryption nor the breaking into E2E messaging. The Government will seem to get what it wants, but will actually get nothing, other than the saving of face. And by next week this will all be forgotten. And iMessage etc will still work just the way it does today.
 
One of the problems of technology is that on the one hand, we need to protect user privacy against all forms of government malice. However, we also must allow governments the tools necessary to combat crime.

The UK, and London in particular, have largely become a surveillance city with thousands of cameras all over. IMO, the UK cannot be trusted with anything that remotely smells of surveillance.
 
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