> This problem is the capability, not what it's used for. Any such capability will be abused by new use cases be it terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking or whatever. Plus there will inevitably be unauthorized access.
Apple even says it themselves[1]:
> This program is ambitious, and protecting children is an important responsibility. These efforts will evolve and expand over time.
I can't wait until /child-safety 404s or redirects to /safety and there's a wall of marketing blurb (possibly only in Chinese at first) that explains how 'national security' concerns are reported to the CCP.
This has totally pushed me over the edge, though I'll admit I was oblivious to begin with. My plan is to replace the MacBooks with a Thinkpad P15 gen 2 running Ubuntu and replace the iPhone with something running Ubuntu Touch (Volla Phone, Fairphone, OnePlus One). Screw not having control.
As another commentator stated, if they actually cared about this issue, they would have done what all the other cloud providers have been doing for many years, and what everyone opposed to this wants them to do - just scan the cloud. That's all they're effectively doing right now, only with the scanning happening on a person's private device.
Same here. Just that I'll get rid of MS and Google. That means CalyxOS on my Pixel 2 and some version of Linux on my private ThinkPad. Once I find time that is, which to be honest can take a while. I think the last time I used my private laptop was over a month ago. Phone is different, but again time constraints. It will happen so.
I'm in the same situation in terms of tech debt against my personal infrastructure. I have plans to migrate my personal (currently Ubuntu) server to use Proxmox on top of selling the current machines & buying new non-Apple ones for this. The evening and weekend time is tight.
There is another option - don’t put anything sensitive on your phone and basically treat it as an adversary already has root access. This pretty much what I do for a long time. All the sensitive information (e.g. banking) is on Linux desktop and there are no logins or apps on iPhone or work laptop (hn is not sensitive ;) ).
I started a thread on what specific actions we can take to avoid Apple and other big tech in future. While it did not gain much traction, I am hoping there are at least 1,000 people in the world who think like me and over time we will be able to influence more people.
I also note that /child-safety page is only(?) accessible from outside search/link. There is no corresponding press article. This thing is just floating in the air somehow…
Even if you trust Apple and NCMEC to not add out of scope hashes that some government or law enforcement or intelligence agency “asks” them to, does anybody who’s ever worked for Apple have any doubt at all they they’d use this to check employee’s personal devices for Apple IP? Especially if a big spectacular leak hits the media? Apple’s IP enforcement goons are legendary. And not in a good way in most people’s opinion. Particularly Gizmodos…
Moreover, things could become retroactively bad. If tomorrow multiple countries decide to change the minimum age of adult performers from 18 to 19 a bunch of pics legal today could become illegal tomorrow leading to wide dragnets enabling law enforcement to go through everything you have.
Apple even says it themselves[1]:
> This program is ambitious, and protecting children is an important responsibility. These efforts will evolve and expand over time.
[1] https://www.apple.com/child-safety/