Does ’s new policy for on device CSAM scanning affect your decision to upgrade?

[Ledsteplin]

Probably because many people have knee jerk reactions to these type of things.

Yeah, but it won't matter if it's an older iPhone or a new one. And other platforms will do the same. So, what's left...a flip phone?

 

[Annie_M]

Probably because many people have knee jerk reactions to these type of things.

Exactly! And that includes me. My initial reaction was quite a knee-jerk reaction and that was before I had bothered to find out what it was all about. And I wasn’t really interested in finding out what it was about because I had made up my mind that it was horrible and that was that!

And then, I watched the iMore show and Rene‘s video on YouTube and I realize that none of this is what it seemed and that my knee-jerk reaction was incorrect. At least in my mind!

 

[swarlos]

Exactly! And that includes me. My initial reaction was quite a knee-jerk reaction and that was before I had bothered to find out what it was all about. And I wasn’t really interested in finding out what it was I had made up my mind that it was horrible and that’s that! And then I watched the iMore show and Rene‘s video on YouTube and I realize that none of this is what it seemed and that my knee-jerk reaction was incorrect. At least in my mind!

Haha I had an initial reaction of OH HELL NAW.

Then I also watched Rene’s video and it cleared up much of the confusion.

 

[Mr Segundus]

Yep. I know scanning photos and iMessages are being done with good intentions, but starting out with good intentions leads to bad intentions. It's not a knee-jerk reaction since many privacy advocates AND Apple employees are vehemently opposed to this.

Not sure how Apple is going to market itself as caring about our privacy when they're heavily violating it. They refused to unlock a shooter's iPhone back in 2015 yet they'll be scanning all of our images and messages. WTF.

 

[Mr Segundus]

I have a problem when it becomes my own device that’s monitoring me.

Exactly this.

 

[FFR]

Yep. I know scanning photos and iMessages are being done with good intentions, but starting out with good intentions leads to bad intentions. It's not a knee-jerk reaction since many privacy advocates AND Apple employees are vehemently opposed to this.

Not sure how Apple is going to market itself as caring about our privacy when they're heavily violating it. They refused to unlock a shooter's iPhone back in 2015 yet they'll be scanning all of our images and messages..

Except they aren’t . Apple isn’t scanning photos and iMessages, That’s google .

One is a parental control feature only for kids, and the other only looks for matches from some American database before you upload it to iCloud. Doesn’t even look at the picture, a code is generated and used for matching. Which is much more private than google and Facebook that actually scans your photos (and everything else) if you store it with them.

Not sure how Apple is going to market itself as caring about our privacy when they're heavily violating it. They refused to unlock a shooter's iPhone back in 2015 yet they'll be scanning all of our images and messages..

Well Apple is privacy focused, since they don’t sell or monetize your data like google and android. I guess that is the big difference. As long as it’s google that’s selling the data, anyone else gets banned .

 

[Mr Segundus]

I mean, even Apple's own employees are concerned about it: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/08/13/apple-employees-concerns-over-csam/

Pretty crappy that you are working so hard to minimize the concerns of others. They are very legitimate concerns.

 

[FFR]

Have you even read it . Doubt it.

The Apple employees have no problem with Apples current implementation, they are complaining of what might happen, like those doomsday preppers that believe the world is going to end and are preparing for it.

Again nothing has changed. Apple has always scanned for it server-side, now they are going to scan for it on the device only If you are using iCloud photos. No idea why that bothers you so much. Not much of a legitimate concern either when they always did it server side and so does every other company like google and android , at least now it a bit more private compared to how google does it.

Nothing to minimize, it’s just hot air, most of it from users that don’t even use an iPhone .

 

[nikkisharif]

Doesn’t affect my decision at all! Not even sure I’m upgrading, but that’s because 5.8” is my sweet spot & I want a smaller Pro device.

In regards to all the panic, I think people forget they have choices. If you don’t like this approach & still want to own an iPhone, turn off iCloud for photos. If you don’t want to keep using an iPhone because of this, get something else. No one is making anyone accept this functionality because everyone has a choice. Make the choice that’s right for you!

 

[cornettbr]

Doesn’t affect my decision at all! Not even sure I’m upgrading, but that’s because 5.8” is my sweet spot & I want a smaller Pro device.

In regards to all the panic, I think people forget they have choices. If you don’t like this approach & still want to own an iPhone, turn off iCloud for photos. If you don’t want to keep using an iPhone because of this, get something else. No one is making anyone accept this functionality because everyone has a choice. Make the choice that’s right for you!

Except for the fact that if you REALLY want to take advantage of apples ecosystem you need to have iCloud functionality turned on. If you pay for apple one and use their other services you’re essentially paying for services that you no longer feel comfortable using. For someone who has invested a lot of money into a MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, iPhone pro max, Apple Watch and Apple TV, it’s a little disappointing that the rules of the game are changed really with zero thought to my own privacy. In order to really switch and back out I’m looking at a new laptop, new watch, new phone, new tablet etc.

It’s not as easy as turning off iCloud, I have to go and download every single photo for every single phone in my household and store them on an external before I can just turn it off as well.

I’ve read all the articles about how all of this works and I still feel like my own phone scanning my photos is where I draw the line for privacy.

 

[Mr Segundus]

It did for me. If they were going to implement the CSAM photo scanning, I was going to walk away from Apple. Apple would never be able to market themselves as "privacy-focused" when they're scanning every last photo before it gets uploaded to iCloud. Thankfully, they're (rightfully) putting that crap on hold for several months.

 

[Mars20]

I am absolutely I favour of scanning for CSAM on the server side. However, I feel that downloading hashes of this material onto everybody’s iPhone
is not the right approach.

 

[pr1nce]

No not at all

 

[nikkisharif]

Except for the fact that if you REALLY want to take advantage of apples ecosystem you need to have iCloud functionality turned on. If you pay for apple one and use their other services you’re essentially paying for services that you no longer feel comfortable using. For someone who has invested a lot of money into a MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, iPhone pro max, Apple Watch and Apple TV, it’s a little disappointing that the rules of the game are changed really with zero thought to my own privacy. In order to really switch and back out I’m looking at a new laptop, new watch, new phone, new tablet etc.

It’s not as easy as turning off iCloud, I have to go and download every single photo for every single phone in my household and store them on an external before I can just turn it off as well.

I’ve read all the articles about how all of this works and I still feel like my own phone scanning my photos is where I draw the line for privacy.

I get what you’re saying, but you still have options. Regardless of the process you have to take to keep your photos, iCloud can be turned off for photos.

 

[FFR]

It did for me. If they were going to implement the CSAM photo scanning, I was going to walk away from Apple. Apple would never be able to market themselves as "privacy-focused" when they're scanning every last photo before it gets uploaded to iCloud. Thankfully, they're (rightfully) putting that crap on hold for several months.

Umm, google actually “scans every last photo that gets uploaded” and not just for csam. If iCloud photos is enabled Apple is only scanning hashes and not the picture itself, a huge “privacy focused”difference.

Compared to the competition kind of sounds like apple is still “privacy focused.”

 

[Mr Segundus]

Umm, google actually “scans every last photo that gets uploaded” and not just for csam. If iCloud photos is enabled Apple is only scanning hashes and not the picture itself, a huge “privacy focused”difference.

Compared to the competition kind of sounds like apple is still “privacy focused.”

I don't upload my photos to Google, so...

And no, scanning every last photo is the exact opposite of privacy.

 

[FFR]

I don't upload my photos to Google, so...

And no, scanning every last photo is the exact opposite of privacy.

True, but scanning hashes instead of the photos isn’t the “opposite of privacy”

Do you use gmail?