There is a great story circulating about Apple implementing some “machine learning on the device” for child safety and is working with US law enforcement to make it happen.

The problem is that the technology used here – the constant monitoring of photo collections with automatic alerts to law enforcement agencies – goes from good and good to questionable.

What happened:

• TechCrunch was one of several branches Apple advised on how the technology worked, including warning parents if children under the age of 13 were sending or receiving what Apple identified as sexually explicit photos in messages.
• But there is significant backlash, not because of what exactly it is, and not even because Apple has talked a lot about privacy and encryption.
• Instead, security experts talk about privacy concerns, as governments are likely to increase the use and scope of such technologies.

Timeline:

• According to reports in the Financial TimesApple yesterday published a blog post titled “Extended Protection for Children,” in which the company announced plans to curb child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
• Then outlets reported details from Apple where the new “child safety features” for iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8 and macOS Monterey will come from. Apple will then start enabling the feature for people in the next few months (US only)
• Then the backlash from security experts: Apple’s plan to “think differently” when it comes to encryption opens a back door to your private life (EFF)“It’s going to break the dam – governments will ask everyone to do it,” said Matthew Green, a professor of security at Johns Hopkins University, the first researcher to do so Post a Twitter thread about the problem. Alec Muffet, a security researcher and privacy officer who used to work at Facebook, also noted on Twitter that Apple’s move was “tectonic” and a “huge and regressive move for individual privacy.”

Developing story:

• I’m much more on the fence here. In part because tech companies have already had to do this with cloud storage Alec Muffet explains here why it is very different to deliver this technology on consumer-purchased devices on local storage.
• Here is another legitimate concern by a tech reporter, though that may be explained.
• here are more supportive Views on Twitter.
• Wired walks a pretty good tightrope, explains how Apple is doing its own data protection graph here and what else there is to learn.