[snarf21]

I think this is a bad move by Apple even if the point is to set up E2EE later. However, one thing that everyone seems to forget is that all these pictures were already being sent un-encrypted to iCloud. ALL of the same issues already completely exist today and were already being scanned and we have heard no outcry. ALL of the same loopholes and unreasonable warrants can be used against you today with all of the un-encrypted data they have on their server right now.

The one thing that occurred to me is that this is almost seems like this is a cya, Section 230 protection in disguise. There has been more discussions about Big Tech and 230, and this is one way to say "Look, we are compliant on our platform. Don't remove our protections or break us up, we are your friend!" It also shouldn't be too surprising given how Apple has behaved in China. They will only push back against the government up until the point it starts to affect profits.

[jackTheMan]

Even if it is possible in other ways as well today, this is a black pattern of going down step-by-step.

When it will be when people will say no? These are all small steps only.

[nicce]

> this is a black pattern of going down step-by-step.

This is very hard to argue. Functionality like spying all your files is trivial to add, and technically we haven't really moved anywhere. "Now technology is there", is not valid argument since it has always been there. Scanning your files and send some metadata is the feature which requires least effort to make from everything that Apple has released.

It might feel bad, when your device scans your to-be-uploaded-cloud images now, but iOS has never been yours. It is very closed system, a part of Apple-ecosystem. Only a guy who as has access for whole iOS source code knows what is actually happening in there. On Apple-ecosystem, only the final result matters in reality and what they say. Since your device is not really yours, you should think like that you are just using Apple-ecosystem, being part of it. If you don't want that, you should have switched into some Linux phone already.

You can speculate all-day what else it might do in hidden in the future. Speculation about hidden features is as valid now as it was yesterday or will be tomorrow.

In reality, we can only be really worried when they publicly say something, which finally makes the end results worse. This did not happen yet. Actually the opposite happened, but here we go.

We have been trusting Apple for quite some time, and they really haven't got caught on doing something else than they have said, so what has changed?

[strofcon]

And Google's entire Code of Conduct used to be "Don't Be Evil". Things change. Money drives all decisions, at all levels above the visceral.

Unfortunately, historical precedent for any given business entity provides absolute zero evidence of probable future behavior. :-\

[nicce]

Shouldn't we change our behavior after the bad things happen? Not based on speculation? I have dumped Google completely once they changed drastically.

[strofcon]

I agree we should do so! That said, we should discourage behavior that is absolutely guaranteed to be abusive in the future.

We can call it speculation - that doesn't mean it's wrong. Power is the play, and companies will always be leveraged for the benefit of the powerful. This seems pretty indisputable to me.

[snarf21]

I agree and my first statement was this is bad. My point was why has no one been complaining about it already being very bad and reacting with "I'm selling all iDevices" when it gets worse?