[ggreer]

> These lists are handled by humans.

That's also true for the no-fly list and the Terrorist Screening Database,[1] yet those are full of false positives. And unlike those lists, CSAM databases cannot be independently verified. To do so would require having the original images, which is illegal.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorist_Screening_Database

[sterlind]

The no-fly list and the terrorist screening database aren't used in a court of law. The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment guarantees you access to all the evidence presented against you. You also don't need the original images to defend yourself, though apparently CP can be presented to a (traumatized) jury [0].

So if you're charged on the basis of a fuzzy hash matching, you'd subpoena Apple for the photo in your backup that matched, present it to the court (since it doesn't actually matter if it's CP or not to be admissible), and you win the case.

0. https://www.johntfloyd.com/the-difficulty-with-criminal-evid...