Apple Addresses Concerns to Scan U.S. iPhones in Internal Memo, Says It Maintains Company’s Deep Commitment to User Privacy

[Tsing]

Image: Apple



Apple revealed in an article titled “expanded protections for children” yesterday that it would be scanning iPhones in the U.S. for images of child sexual abuse as part of its initiative for helping protect children.



Despite the company’s seemingly noble efforts, which can’t really be argued against, many readers have balked at the news, with some alleging that this is just a clever way for Apple to grant itself powers that allow it to inspect users’ personal files at will.



Following controversy from notables such as Edward Snowden and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, 9to5Mac has shared an internal memo being passed around at Apple that indicates the company is...

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[Brian_B]

Hmm - this should play out in some interesting fashion.

I could see.. Apple saying they would scan anything that hits their cloud, but not extend that to local phone storage. That would make sense.

 

[Dan_D]

Except that if it does find something, Apple will turn those images over to authorities. On one hand I hate pedo's, but scanning your phone's images is a huge violation of privacy. Apple is simply trying to tell users that it's OK because it's just Apple that will see what's on your phone. We know companies like Samsung, Apple and Google already mine a ton of data, but this seems like a bridge too far.

Saying its just looking for child porn is trying to hide their invasion of privacy and data mining under the guise of doing something few would dare oppose.