Apple to Delay iPhone Update That Could Scan Device for Illegal Content | Hacker News Reader

Apple to Delay iPhone Update That Could Scan Device for Illegal Content

wsj.com

59 pointsZeroCool2u13 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28403727

Apple has never truly backed away from anything, we simply “don’t understand” this new feature. As many here noted, Apple will retreat and then when the furor has died down, slowly bring this in a surprise update.

They also rarely delay things because of it as well. The pessimist in my believes you, the optimist is that this will be shelved and replaced with an industry standard on server scanning.

I tend to agree. The backlash from this has been far reaching and the fact that they delayed at all tells me this is not business as usual.

Hell, nothing about this feature was business as usual.

I think this will play out more like the butterfly keyboard debacle. They won’t ever really acknowledge how bad the original thing was, but they’ll return to a solution the community finds palatable (server side scanning), and wrap it up in a bow like they did with the “magic keyboard, now on our laptops”.

Exactly. Whenever these companies get caught doing something on unethical, it's never a moral failure. It's us rubes "getting confused" because our feeble minds can't process the brilliance of these big tech companies.

Im prepared to take a risk on Linux for my next mobile. I dont use many apps, dont play games on it. Most of the apps I do use could be replaced with direct web access. I just feel we need to do something now about the cellphone O/s duopoly before its too late (though some might state it is too late).

I can put up with software and hardware that just good enough, once there's critical mass with numbers we'll see more users and developers joining. Im more that happy to pay for adware free, spyware free, open source software. Even just 1% of the global phone market would be enough to keep it going.

There's no risk. Sailfish OS has been a daily driver for many people for years, especially for your use case.

It's proprietary, so not really giving you the auditability you need.

How does this apply to the OP's use case?

A proprietary Linux OS will attract far less people, because the Linux community values FLOSS.

Presumably the article is referring to the contentious CSAM feature.

Article Text:

Apple Inc. [US:AAPL] said it plans to delay and make improvements to new iPhone software that aimed to identify and report collections of sexually exploitative images of children, a move that comes amid backlash from critics concerned about the erosion of privacy with their devices.

Apple said last month that it would introduce the software later this year through an iPhone update for U.S. users. It defended the software for many weeks. But in a brief statement Friday the company said it “decided to take additional time over the coming months to collect input and make improvements before releasing these critically important child safety features.”

Not that this will make a noticeable dent to Apple’s bottom line, but the on-device scanning and the on-device check for nudity have dented Apple’s credibility among the small subset of (influential) people who care a lot more about privacy and freedoms than a for-profit corporation can.

I see people talking online about switching to Android or “going back to Android” just because of this. That sounds weird to me from the privacy perspective. Some are taking an approach with better control by switching to GrapheneOS or CalyxOS, which is probably great (for those who can manage these).

I’ve also seen some people talking about staying on iOS 14.x, which, for the first time in iOS history, will continue getting security updates even after iOS 15 is released (current users of iOS 14 will have a choice of which version they’d want to use). But since there were already leaks of a version of the CSAM scanning on iOS 14, I don’t think staying on it will help avoid this whenever Apple flips the switch on. It will be turned on in the current OSes supported by Apple.

Overall, Apple has a lot of thinking to do. One can only dream that its usual adamant and arrogant self doesn’t make the decisions later.

Apple may face CCI probe over in-app payment issues https://www.88posts.com/post/705037/apple-may-face-cci-probe...

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