Client-side content scanning as an unworkable, insecure disaster for democracy

"zero knowledge encrypted cloud storage solutions" that still enable the state to inspect that data for illegal content or evidence of illegal activities, are an unworkable, insecure disaster for democracy.

And that might be true.

The practical reality is you can't both have perfect privacy/security, and enable state surveillance. It's one or the other.

The question is, what tradeoffs are we willing to live with?

It's an incredibly hard question with no good answers.

So this article explores the question: is the answer Apple come up with better than what we have today: either content scanning of naked data in the cloud, or total information opacity for law enforcement as a result of high quality, easy-to-use encryption.

Personally, I think the encryption cat is out of the bag and I'd rather have better privacy over enabling digital wiretapping capabilities, whether they're happening in the cloud or on my devices.

But that's just my opinion and I accept that it comes with a lot of tradeoffs, including much more difficulty in identifying and breaking up CSAM distribution networks.