On Thursday, more than a dozen well-known cybersecurity experts criticized Apple for relying on “dangerous technology” in its controversial plan to detect images of child sexual abuse on the iPhone.
Researchers drew severe criticism in a new 46-page research report that studied Apple and the European Union’s plans to monitor illegal content in people’s mobile phones. They say that these efforts were ineffective and dangerous strategies, and government surveillance is even more daring.
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Reportedly, Apple’s aforementioned plan was initially announced in August. It includes client-side (i.e. on-device) scanning of users’ iCloud photo libraries to find child sexual abuse material (CSAM), as well as communication security to alert Features included.
Children and their parents are receiving or sending pornographic photos, as well as expanding Siri and CSAM guidance in search.
As per the information by the researchers, documents issued by the European Union indicate that the group’s governing body is developing a similar plan to scan encrypted phones for signs of child sexual abuse and images related to organized crime and terrorism.
The researchers said that in addition to monitoring issues, their findings show that the technology is not effective in identifying images of child sexual abuse. They further stated that within a few days of Apple’s announcement of the plan, people have discovered that by slightly editing the image, they can avoid being scanned.
Another member of the team, Susan Landau, a professor of cybersecurity and policy at Tufts University, added, “the program allows scanning an individual’s private device without any possible reason and doing anything. Things that are illegal. This is very dangerous. It is dangerous to business, national security, public safety, and privacy.”
Cybersecurity researchers told that they had begun research before Apple announced and are now publishing their research results to inform the European Union of the dangers of its plan.
Due to the decision to expand the technology in future iOS15 and iPad OS15 updates, Apple has faced strong criticism from privacy advocates, security researchers, cryptography experts, academics, politicians, and even internal employees.
Apple initially worked hard to eliminate misunderstandings and reassure users by publishing detailed information, sharing FAQs, various new documents, interviews with company executives, etc., to dispel their worries.
However, when it was found that this did not achieve the expected results, Apple subsequently admitted that the plan had encountered negative feedback and announced in September that it would postpone the rollout of these features to allow the company time to “improve” the CSAM system.
It is still unclear what these improvements will involve, and how to solve the privacy issues that people care about.
