The outside world has not only criticized Apple’s plans to scan iPhones for child abuse images. People within the company are also concerned that the position is being misused.
According to Reuters, there has been heated discussion within Apple’s own Slack channels over the past week about the new feature set to be rolled out soon in the US and later in other countries. The main concern here is that repressive governments will demand that the tool also detect other things.
Reuters notes that while there is often discussion within Apple, it is rare that the discussion is so fierce and that it is also shared, albeit anonymously, with the outside world. Typically, Apple’s staff culture is known for dealing discreetly with internal disagreements.
Apple announced earlier this week that it would scan iPhones for photos of known child abuse. This concerns images just before they are sent to iCloud. It uses a database of known photos of abuse that are compared with photos on the phone via hash values. The feature will be rolled out in the US soon, but other countries will follow soon.
Internally, this produces proponents and opponents. Some note that this is the most reasonable approach. For example, multiple photos are subject to a human check before people are reported to law enforcement, and it prevents those law enforcement agencies from performing the scans themselves. Some employees also hope the new approach will now make it possible to fully encrypt iCloud, a plan Apple abandoned earlier this year. But detractors note that this is a serious step backwards in the privacy image that Apple has assumed for itself.
Externally, too, the choice can count on little understanding from privacy and human rights activists. Many assume that once such a system exists, governments in some countries will demand that the scanning be used to detect other things as well. For example, Apple has already pleaded for China by storing data from Chinese customers in that country.
