The main issues here are the default opt-in and not announcing this feature way back in September. If someone wants this, they can always enable it if it’s opted out by default. I’d expect Apple to fix this soon.
The link below is from the original author of this revelation, and is better suited for discussion, IMO. The author, Jeff Johnson, is a long time developer of applications on macOS and iOS/iPadOS.
Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15
Discussed five days ago at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42533685
December 28 2024
https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/2024/12/3.html
The follow up is also interesting and relevant:
The internet is full of experts
December 31 2024