Apple’s decision to scan iPhones and iPads of its users for child abuse material may indeed allow the detection of crimes at an early stage, but it may also be the starting point for the destruction of privacy.
Vitaly Yakushev, chief operating officer of 10Guards, said this in a comment to a GolosUA correspondent.
“Apple has provided a series of QA on this topic, where they indicated that they would scan not the photos themselves, but the special hash functions of suspicious images. And if there is a match with the files of child abuse in the database, a particular photo will be referred to law enforcement agencies for investigation”, – said the expert.
According to V. Yakushev regarding security, you can’t catch a fish without getting your feet wet.
“The fact is that the more secure Internet we want, the more rights and freedoms should be limited. If we want to combat the problem of child abuse, we can only detect crimes in the early stages after giving law enforcement access to a particular device. Because without access, you can only identify a person after the fact,” he added.
At the same time, according to the expert, we cannot ignore the idea that such a measure is just an excuse to establish control over the devices in the future.
“There is an Everton window principle where society is gradually accustomed to one behavior or another through small changes. In that case, the next step could be a situation where privacy disappears at all. The current step cannot be called too invasive for the public opinion, but it may become a starting point for the implementation of police surveillance with further limitation of privacy,” Yakushev specified.
According to him, the restriction of rights and freedoms is appropriate only when there is trust between individuals, society, and those who restrict these rights and freedoms.
“In this case with Apple, there is absolutely no trust in either the authorities or the company itself. And the occurring theories on this basis should be taken as warnings about what can happen in the future. After all, if we ignore the fact that we are talking about Apple, we should recognize that this is a sensible, logical, and workable approach to solving the problem of child abuse. But if we do not do this and recognize that in addition to Apple, there are also the authorities of various countries that do not always use their intentions for good, then it is extremely difficult to make an unequivocal assessment of such actions. At the same time, it is impossible not to admit that the world is gradually moving towards the destruction of the concept of privacy,” concluded V. Yakushev.
Earlier, Apple has officially confirmed that the photos and messages of their users will be scanned for child abuse material.
Source: GolosUA
