Apple’s plan to scan customers’ phones and other devices for images depicting child sexual abuse generated a backlash over privacy concerns, which led the company to announce a delay.
Apple, Facebook, Google and other companies have long scanned customers’ images that are stored on the companies’ servers for this material. Scanning data on users’ devices is a significant change.
However well-intentioned, and whether or not Apple is willing and able to follow through on its promises to protect customers’ privacy, the company’s plan highlights the fact that people who buy iPhones are not masters of their own devices. In addition, Apple is using a complicated scanning system that is hard to audit. Thus, customers face a stark reality: If you use an iPhone, you have to trust Apple.
Specifically, customers are forced to trust Apple to only use this system as described, run the system securely over time, and put the interests of their users over the interests of other parties, including the most powerful governments on the planet.
