Apple says photos in iCloud will be checked by child abuse detection system
By Stephen Nellis and Joseph Menn
(Reuters) - Apple Inc on Monday said that iPhone users' entire
photo libraries will be checked for known child abuse images if
they are stored in the online iCloud service.
The disclosure came in a series of media briefings in which Apple
is seeking to dispel alarm over its announcement last week that it will scan
users' phones, tablets and computers for millions of illegal pictures.
While Google, Microsoft and other technology platforms check
uploaded photos or emailed attachments against a database of identifiers
provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other
clearing houses, security experts faulted Apple's plan as more invasive.
Some said they expected that governments would seek to force the iPhone maker to
expand the system to peer into devices for other material.
In a posting to its website on Sunday, Apple said it would fight
any such attempts, which can occur in secret courts.
"We have faced demands to build and deploy
government-mandated changes that degrade the privacy of users before, and have
steadfastly refused those demands," Apple wrote. "We will continue to
refuse them in the future."
In the briefing on Monday, Apple officials said the company's
system, which will roll out this fall with the release of its iOS 15 operating
system, will check existing files on a user's device if users have those photos
synched to the company's storage servers.
Julie Cordua, chief executive of Thorn, a group that has developed
technology to help law enforcement officials detect sex trafficking, said about
half of child sexual abuse material is formatted as video.
Apple's system does not check videos before they are uploaded to
the company's cloud, but the company said it plans to expand its system in
unspecified ways in the future.
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