I have been a big Apple fan ever since my first computer. This is the first time I legitimately thought I need to start thinking about something else. It’s kind of sad.
What changed, really?
For me it’s sad because I have literally always stood by them and they make amazing hardware and software. However at the end of the day I’d rather have the nature of my device be one where it is under my control, than all the wonderful apple tech.
I just don’t know what to use instead.
If you reprogram my computer to scan my images stored on my computer… different thing entirely. I don't have a problem with checking them for child abuse (in fact, I'd give up quite a bit of freedom to stop that), but nothing about this tech makes it specific to child abuse. I don't want my computer ratting me out for stuff that I have the right (or, possibly, the obligation) to be doing, just because the powerful don't want me doing it. At the moment, it doesn't.
This tech makes Apple-controlled computers untrustworthy. It will probably lead to the deaths of political dissidents; these things always do. Is that worth it?
For me, the big concern is how it could be expanded. This is a real and valid problem but it’s certainly not hard to imagine a government insisting it needs to be expanded to cover all photos, even for people not using iCloud, and we’d like you to add these signatures from some images we can’t show you. Once the infrastructure is there it’s a lot easier to do that.
Think about all the startups that can't deploy software without being taxed most of our margin, the sign in with apple that prevents us from having a real customer relationship, and the horrible support, libraries, constant changes, etc. It's hostile! It's unfair that the DOJ hasn't done anything about it.
A modern startup cannot succeed without Apple's blessing. To do so would be giving up 50% of the American market. When you're struggling to grow and find traction, you can't do that. It's so wildly unfair that they "own" 50+% of computer users.
Think of all the device owners that don't have the money to pay Apple for new devices or upgrades. They can't repair them themselves. Apple's products are meant to go into the trash and be replaced with new models.
We want to sidestep these shenanigans and use our own devices? Load our own cloud software? We can't! Apple, from the moment Jobs decreed, was fully owned property. No alternative browsers, no scripting or runtimes. No computing outside the lines. You're just renting.
This company is so awful.
Please call your representatives and ask them to break up the biggest and most dangerous monopoly in the world.