They aren’t scanning users devices. If you think this, there is definitely confusion in the information getting out.
They are scanning images on iPhones and iPads prior to uploading those images to iCloud. If you're not uploading images to iCloud, your photos won't be scanned -- but if you are using iCloud, Apple will absolutely check images on your device.
From Apple's Child Safety page:
> Apple’s method of detecting known CSAM is designed with user privacy in mind. Instead of scanning images in the cloud, the system performs on-device matching using a database of known CSAM image hashes provided by NCMEC and other child safety organizations. Apple further transforms this database into an unreadable set of hashes that is securely stored on users’ devices.
> Before an image is stored in iCloud Photos, an on-device matching process is performed for that image against the known CSAM hashes. This matching process is powered by a cryptographic technology called private set intersection, which determines if there is a match without revealing the result. The device creates a cryptographic safety voucher that encodes the match result along with additional encrypted data about the image. This voucher is uploaded to iCloud Photos along with the image.
Yes, they will check the images you have chosen to upload. No ‘scanning is involved’.
Claiming this is ‘scanning users devices’ is just dishonest - it’s obvious that it creates a false dichotomy impression of what they are actually doing.
Don’t do that.
Frame it the way you want. It is the device.
If you say Apple is scanning the device, you are lying. They are not scanning the device. They are scanning photos chosen for upload.
Suppose we know there are people who smuggle drugs on airplanes on their person for the purpose of something terrible, like addicting children or poisoning people. If I run an airport I could say: to stop this, I'm going to subject everyone who flies out of my airport to a body-cavity search. Tim, and Craig, are you OK with this? If I can say, "Don't worry! We have created this great robots that ensure the body cavity searches are gentle and the minimum needed to check for illegal drugs," does it really change anything to make it more acceptable to you?
I was just pointing out a falsehood you wrote about what is actually being done.
Anyway, someone in here can accept what the other can't, so let's leave at that and let history tells.
If Chrome scanned downloaded files for viruses and you described that to someone as "scans your computer for viruses" do you think the listener would come away with an accurate understanding of what was happening and accurate understanding of what they were and were not being protected from?
If BestBuy GeekSquad offered a service to "check your device for problems" and all they did was open your photo collection, would you walk away arguing that it proves the screen and mouse and CPU and disk must function and nobody could expect them to do any more than that, service provided, full marks, that's "the device" checked? Or would you hope that "checking the device for problems" might involve at least exercising all the major features like speakers, wifi, bluetooth, at least once, and preferably with stress and thermal tests?
When the TSA ask you to switch your device on to demonstrate that it's not a bomb, are you on the side of "if the screen lights up, the device is thoroughly and effectively tested and cannot contain anything else" or on the side of "an attacker could make up many ways to make the screen glow while hollowing out the insides, this does not really demonstrate that 'the device' is safe"?
"Device scans photos" and "Apple scans device" imply two very different things about how much is scanned, and you're using the latter because you know that if you describe it accurately readers won't be as panicked as you want them to be.
>They are scanning photos chosen for upload
That's pretty much scanning on the device.
That is different from scanning the device. Saying they are ‘scanning the device’ is a lie.
Yes, Apple could scan the device in future. It’s still a lie to say they are doing it now.
>Yes, Apple could scan the device in future. It’s still a lie to say they are doing it now.
Puh..i am relieved now...wait i don't even have a apple product.
EDIT: For Question below
https://technokilo.com/apple-child-safety-feature-third-part...
>Apple didn’t announce any timeframe about when will they implement child safety features in third-party apps. Apple said that they still have to complete testing of child features and ensure that the use of this feature in third-party apps will not bring any privacy harm
Do they? Where have they said that?
Were you aware of that when you posted it?
The Q&A mentioned has no date or time. No Apple Spokespeople are named. There are no actual quotes. No well known news outlets have mentioned this very consequential detail.
This has all the indicators of a fake.
I'd call that photo scanning... and they are scanning the photos on the device.
This isn’t some ambiguous case that needs to be addressed philosophically. They aren’t scanning anything other than the photos being uploaded.
When people say that the device is being scanned for pictures, they know what that means. So it is fine for them to say that the device is being scanned for pictures.
This is about the 16th time I have seen language just like this used to explain away this concern. I don't know if you realize, but this wording makes it sound like you can select some photos and leave others local. I can find no indication anywhere, including on my phone, that iCloud Photos is anything other than an All Or Nothing singular toggle in iCloud settings. If you have instructions to the contrary, I will be happy to stand corrected.
Seriously, everybody is wording it like this. "Photos you choose..." and similar.
If you intentionally make someone think that anything other than the photos they are uploading are being scanned, then you are deceiving them.
Deceiving people to make your point doesn’t help anything. It just makes you a liar and the other person misinformed.
If this is a massive privacy violation in itself, then you shouldn’t need to exaggerate it.