The real reason everyone hates Apple’s child porn idea (it has nothing to do with privacy)
The real reason everyone hates Apple’s child porn idea (it has nothing to do with privacy)
Plus: space billboards, shower glasses, suction-cup security and more!
Apple announced last week that as part of a broader initiative to fight child sexual abuse, the company plans to automatically scan all user photos stored on iCloud and compare it to a known repository of what we’re now calling “child sexual abuse material,” or CSAM (pronounce it: SEE-sam). When a few objectionable pictures are detected, they’re sent to Apple moderators who actually view the pictures. Offending users are reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Here’s where it gets weird. Apple’s system won’t scan all images stored on the phone — only pictures uploaded to iCloud. But it won’t scan the photos in iCloud — only locally on the phone. To do that, Apple plans to download the entire database of child porn image identification data is downloaded to every Apple device. It’s unreadable by humans.
Specifically, your iOS devices will apply on your device a digital “fingerprint” called a NeuralHash to each of the photos that is uploaded to iCloud. This “fingerprint” is compared with an non-visual database of child abuse images. Each photo match triggers a kind of “red flag” called a “safety voucher.” If several of your photos trigger “safety vouchers,” Apple will decrypt the photos and look at them, then report you if they’re deemed to show child sexual abuse.
The practice of scanning for CSAM is common — Facebook, Twitter and Reddit all do it for pictures uploaded to their services.
The only difference is that Apple plans to do it on your phone, rather than in the cloud. And that’s what’s driving the controversy.
Here’s why people really hate the idea, and what Apple should do about it.
Mike’s List of Brilliantly Bad Ideas
1. Space billboards
You’ve heard of brands buying ad space. Soon they’ll be able to buy space ads. A Canadian startup called Geometric Energy Corporation (GEC) plans to sell space ad space on the side of a CubeSat that will orbit the moon, courtesy of a Space X Falcon 9 rocket. It gets even dumber. The ad, which is a crude set of pixels, won’t be visible from Earth. Instead, the satellite will have a selfie stick with a camera (no, I’m not making this up), which will live-stream video of the ad to YouTube or Twitch. Advertisers can place ads by paying with cryptocurrencies, including possibly Dogecoin. (And, apparently, GEC will pay Space X in Dogecoin.)
2. Shower glasses
Like to read in the shower but can’t because your glasses fog? Showerspecs is a pair of glasses you wear in the shower. An “extra hydrophobic layer” repels water and steam. Now all you need is a waterproof book.
3. Luggage security that sucks
Some genius in Hong Kong named Ip Chi Fai is Kickstarting his idea for luggage security: A giant suction cup too strong for thieves to remove. The I-Keeper sticks to the floor and you tether your luggage to it. A lever creates suction. Releasing the lever “unlocks” it from the floor, which you can do only after entering the padlock style combination. Unfortunately, it’s against airport rules to leave your luggage unattended, so…
Mike’s List of Shameless Self Promotion
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CURRENT LOCATION: Silicon Valley, California
