The other part is on-device scanning for nude pics a child is intending to send using machine learning and securely notifying the child, and then parents within the family account. The alert that the kids get by itself will probably be enough to stop a lot of them from sending the pic in the first place.
This sounds like a feature I'd like
I won't use my own kids devices as information weapons against them. I will teach them what kind of information weapons they are however.
Not that there aren't some really lousy parents out there.
I suspect/hope the exclusion parenting style (you don't get a phone because I don't trust you with it or the rest of the world with you) and the guidance parenting style (you get a phone but I'm going to make sure to talk to you about responsibility and about lousy people in the world, and I want to know if something happens so we can keep talking) both far outweigh this sort of proposed 'entrapment' parenting style.
A phone is a tool. You start slowly. Do you give a 3 year old a chainsaw or machine gun right away? No.
I grew up and learned to shoot. I started with a bb gun, then a 22lr rife etc. You start with stuff less dangerous.
A phone potentially exposes children to all sorts of crap.
It's not some horrible thing to start slowly with something a bit locked down (and yes, blocking porn is part of that), then it opens up as they get mature.
This conversation has really made me look at the HN community in a different way. I've worked with kids in lots of contexts and with parents etc - the HN feelings about apple's efforts in this area are going to be somewhat extreme outliers relative to population as a whole and particularly vis a vis parents.
And yes, a phone - and the web and computing in general - are information weapons. Same as a knife or a hammer they have utility too which is great and also something to be lauded. But dangers must be recognised.
I won't trust Apple or Google to draw the line in the sand for me. Both the kid and myself will know what the expectations are and be talking about it the whole way through growing up.
But if I'm picking a phone for my kid, and my choice is this (even if imperfect) and the HN freedomFone - it's going to be Apple. We'll see what other parents decide.
It's easily to design solution that will work around and allow sending either criminals or kids nude pictures under the radar, e.g.
1) Someone will eventually write web app that will use webrtc or similar for snapping nude picture (so that no picture is stored on device) 2) encrypting those photos on the server 3) sending the link to this nude image that will be rendered in html canvas (again no image will be stored on device) 4) link to web app that will rendered image will be behind captcha so that automated bots cannot scan it
Now do we want to go into the rabbit hole to 'protect the kids' and make Apple buildin camera drivers that will filter all video stream for nudity?
Sometimes otherwise good, smart kids, with good parents, can be caught up by predation. It isn't always as simple as making sure the kid is educated; they'll still be young, they'll still be immature (< 13!), and it will sometimes be possible to manipulate them. I'm not saying that what Apple is doing is a good answer, it probably isn't, but it's an answer to a genuine felt need.