Apple gives more explanation about its initiative to scan iPhones for images of child abuse. But the criticism from privacy and human rights organizations and even WhatsApp is strong.
Apple announced last week that it would scan iPhones from iOS 15 for images of known child abuse. When sent to iCloud, they are matched against a database. Anyone who possesses too many of those images can be reported to the law enforcement authorities.
The plan immediately received a lot of criticism, and that has not diminished in recent days. Meanwhile, an open letter has been signed by several privacy and human rights organizations, as well as more than 5,000 individuals.
It explains how Apple’s approach is a significant step toward continuous surveillance and control. However, the signatories wonder how long it will be before the child abuse database is expanded to include, for example, “terrorist” content or material that is “harmful but legal” or censored by certain governments.
One of the examples in the letter from security and privacy researcher Dr Nadim Kobeissi is that Apple doesn’t allow FaceTime in Saudi Arabia today because it doesn’t support encrypted calls. “What if local laws in Saudi Arabia require that messages be scanned about homosexuality or insults to the monarchy?”
In the meantime, Apple is defending itself by providing more explanations about how the system works. The company emphasizes, among other things, that the system does not simply give government authorities access to information.
For example, the matching with the known child abuse images database is also checked by Apple personnel, and no people are reported if no images are discovered. But it is not yet clear how watertight these systems are in practice. Apple does say it plans to expand the service to other countries subject to local laws. It is not known which countries these are and when that will happen.
