- Apple said it will delay the introduction of a system to scan customers’ phones for signs of child sexual abuse.
- The plan was criticized by privacy advocates, who said the government might use it to track or monitor users.
- The tech giant now says that it takes more time to gather opinions and make improvements.
After fierce criticism from privacy advocates, Apple delayed a system that could scan customer photos for signs of child sexual abuse, which they feared might lay the foundation for other forms of tracking.
The company announced this feature and other tools designed to protect children and eradicate illicit pornography in early August, and soon faced concerns that it would create a backdoor through the company’s highly valued privacy measures.
In the next few weeks, Apple scrambled to contain the controversy, saying it would hire an independent auditor to oversee the system, but strong protests persisted.
Apple said in a statement on Friday: “Last month, we announced plans to help protect children from predators who use communication tools to recruit and exploit them, and to limit the spread of child sexual abuse materials. ”
“Based on feedback from customers, advocacy groups, researchers, and others, we decided to spend more time collecting opinions and making improvements in the coming months before releasing these vital child safety features.”
More and more censorship
In recent months, this backlash has intensified the increasing scrutiny of Apple. Earlier this week, the company agreed to change its App Store policy to address its anti-competitive criticism. Employees are becoming more and more outspoken about issues within the company, including what they call the lack of pay equity. The National Labor Relations Board is currently investigating two complaints from workers that stem from concerns about workplace safety and lack of pay transparency.
Apple plans to launch three new tools designed to help combat child sexual abuse material (CSAM). They include using the Siri digital assistant to report child abuse and access CSAM-related resources, as well as a feature in the message that can scan children’s operated devices for incoming or outgoing explicit images.
The third feature is the most controversial: it analyzes the user’s gallery in iCloud photos to find explicit images of children. If such images are found in the customer’s library, Apple will receive an alert, conduct a manual review to verify the content, and then report the user to law enforcement.
Privacy advocates such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation warn that the technology can be used to track things other than child pornography, opening the door to “wider abuse.” Apple’s plan to bring in auditors and fine-tune the system did not reassure them, saying that this method itself could not help but break the encryption that protects user privacy.
On Friday, EFF said it was happy that Apple had listened to people’s concerns, but it urged the company to abandon the plan altogether.
“These features will pose a huge threat to the privacy and security of iPhone users, and provide an all-inclusive large-scale surveillance system for the authoritarian government to monitor citizens,” executive director Cindy Cohn said in a statement.
“The huge coalition that has already spoken out will continue to demand the protection of users’ mobile phones-including their information and photos-and require companies to keep their promises to provide users with real privacy.”
In order to defend the new CSAM features, Apple instructs employees on how to answer questions on the subject. It also stated that the system will only flag when users have about 30 or more potentially illegal pictures.
Protection service
Apple is far more than just taking such measures. Facebook has long had algorithms to detect such images uploaded to its social network, and Google’s YouTube analyzes videos on its service to find explicit or abusive content involving children. Adobe has similar protection measures for its online services.
Apple’s CSAM function will work by assigning a so-called hash key to each user’s image and comparing these keys with the keys assigned to the images in the explicit data database. Some users worry that they might be implicated by simply storing images of babies in the bathtub. However, it is unlikely that personal photos of parents’ children will appear in a known database of child pornography, and Apple will cross-reference them as part of its system.
Apple is also trying to eliminate concerns about government surveillance of users or tracking non-child pornographic photos. It stated that its database will consist of images from multiple child safety organizations, not just the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which was originally announced. The company also plans to use data from groups in different government-operated regions, and said that independent auditors will verify the contents of its database.
It also only affects photos uploaded by customers to their iCloud account. Apple has stated that it will reject any government request to use its technology as a means to monitor customers.
The feature was originally scheduled to take effect before the end of this year, which may cast a shadow over a series of Apple products that are expected to be released in the next few weeks. People familiar with the matter said the company is launching updated iPhones, iPads, AirPods and Macs, as well as larger new Apple Watches.
EFF’s Cohn said on Friday that she looks forward to working with the company “to find ways to combat the scourge of online child sexual abuse materials without sacrificing true privacy and security for Apple customers.”
