IPhone users have endured a lot in recent months, but the company’s new CSAM detection system has proven to be a lighting bar that contrasts with the rest. And if you were thinking of leaving your iPhone on top of it, a shocking new report might just push you.
Apple will soon scan the iCloud image libraries of iPhone, iPad and Mac users for photos of children … [+]
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In a new editorial published by The Washington Post, a couple of researchers spent two years developing a CSAM (child sexual abuse material) detection system similar to the one Apple plans to install on iPhones, iPads and Macs. users next month, have delivered an unequivocal warning: it is dangerous.
“We wrote the only peer-reviewed publication on how to build a system like Apple’s and concluded that the technology was dangerous,” say Jonathan Mayer and Anunay Kulshrestha, the two Princeton academics behind the research. “Our system could easily be reused for surveillance and censorship. The design was not limited to a specific content category; a service could simply be exchanged in any database that matches the content and the person using that service would not be smarter. “
This has been the predominant fear regarding Apple’s CSAM initiative. The goal of technology to reduce child abuse is unquestionably important, but the potential damage that could be caused by hackers and governments manipulating a system designed to search your iCloud photos and report abusive content is clear to everyone.
“China is Apple’s second largest market, with probably hundreds of millions of devices. What prevents the Chinese government from requiring Apple to analyze these devices for pro-democracy materials? “ask researchers.
And the critics have a lot of ammunition here. Earlier this year, Apple was accused of engaging in censorship and surveillance in China after agreeing to transfer the personal data of its Chinese customers to the servers of a state-owned Chinese company. Apple also claims to have provided customer data to the U.S. government nearly 4,000 times last year.
iCloud stores photos from iPhones, iPads, and Macs
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“We have detected other shortcomings,” Mayer and Kulshrestha explain. “The content matching process could have false positives and malicious users could play the system to subject innocent users to scrutiny.”
And recent history does not bode well. Last month, revelations about the Pegasus project exposed a global business that had been successfully hacking iPhones for years and selling its technology to foreign governments for surveillance of anti-regime activists, journalists and political leaders from rival nations. With access to Apple technology designed to scan and mark the iCloud photos of a billion iPhone owners, this could go much further.
Before Mayer and Kulshrestha spoke, more than 90 civil rights groups around the world had already written a letter to Apple stating that the technology behind CSAM “will have laid the groundwork for worldwide censorship, surveillance and persecution.” “.
Apple has since defended its CSAM system, alleging that it was poorly communicated and that it was a “recipe for this kind of confusion,” but the company’s responses did little to impress Mayer and Kulshrestha.
“Apple’s motivation, like ours, was to protect children. And their system was technically more efficient and capable than ours, “they said.” But it baffled us to see that Apple had few answers to the tough questions we had come up with. “
Now Apple is in a mess of its own. For years, the company has made a considerable effort to market itself as an advocate for user privacy, with the company’s official privacy website stating:
“Privacy is a fundamental human right. At Apple, it’s also one of our core values. Your devices are important to so many parts of your life. What you share with these experiences and who you share it with should be yours. We design Apple products to protect your privacy and give you control over your information. It’s not always easy. But we believe in this type of innovation ”.
CSAM will launch on iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8 and macOS Monterey next month. I suspect that for many Apple fans, it will mark the time to leave.
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