Sources: Apple employees have sent 800+ Slack messages on an internal channel debating the company's plans to scan US iPhones, iPads, and computers for CSAM
A backlash over Apple's move to scan U.S. customer phones and computers for child sex abuse images has grown to include employees speaking …
Reuters
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple’s device-scanning proposal had already drawn privacy objections from security experts, centered on the possibility that governments could press to broaden its use. The employee discussion shows that the dispute had also reached inside the company rather than remaining a customer-facing communications problem.
Apple moved quickly to prepare staff for questions and proposed independent review of the system as a response to privacy concerns. Later coverage records that Apple ultimately scrapped the on-device scanning system, underscoring how difficult it was to reconcile the initiative with its privacy posture.
First-order effects
Apple’s CSAM-scanning team and internal communications staff face a more visible internal challenge: explaining the proposal’s safeguards to employees who are actively contesting its privacy implications.
Employees debating the plan gain an internal channel for surfacing implementation and trust concerns before Apple can present a settled rationale externally.
Second-order effects
Apple’s promised independent audit becomes more important as a credibility mechanism, because external expert criticism and internal dissent are converging on the same privacy-risk question.
Child-safety advocates and privacy critics receive further evidence that the proposal is contentious within Apple, increasing pressure on the company’s public explanation and rollout planning.
Third-order effects
The eventual abandonment of the on-device system suggests that safety features requiring broad device-level inspection face a high bar at companies whose products are closely identified with privacy protections.
Apple’s later warning that cloud scanning can create a slippery slope of unintended consequences points to a durable policy conflict: demands for child-safety enforcement can persist even after a particular technical design is withdrawn.
The trend: Apple’s CSAM-scanning debate is part of a broader struggle to add child-safety enforcement without creating device- or cloud-level capabilities that users, employees, and policymakers may view as expandable surveillance.
Here's an op-ed @alexstamos and I co-authored about the risks of Apple's content scanning plan. It's short and easy to read, and I'm hoping it makes the issues digestible to non-technical people. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Apple now faces concerns within its own ranks: many Apple employees have flooded its internal Slack expressing worries that the CSAM detection feature “could be exploited by repressive governments looking to find other material for censorship or arrest.” https://www.reuters.com/.…
I had a great chat about this with a non-techie yesterday, who asked “how did we get here so quickly? it seems like a quantum leap” Does #Apple have too much hubris to reverse course, or is the bad PR a standard step in conditioning users to accept spying? https://www.macrumors.c…
Apple employees have flooded Slack with concerns about the company's abuse-scanning feature. It's a level of debate that was almost unheard of when I was on the beat a few years ago. Story with @josephmenn @StephenNellis https://www.reuters.com/...
All the conversations the community has been having are mirrored inside Apple; I think it's an understandable worry that Apple is prepared to sell out all of its users despite knowing — and informing them — predators can avoid the system by turning off iCloud Photos. No wins here…
Big: The @Apple #spyPhone scandal grows as its own employees begin to turn against its plan to force over one billion iPhones to begin scanning for digital contraband in iOS 15. Apple describes the new system as “expanding protections for children.” https://www.reuters.com/...
Reuters: “Apple's child protection features spark concern within its own ranks -sources” Looks like the “screeching voices of the minority” include those within Apple itself. Good. https://www.reuters.com/...
Exclusive: Some Apple employees are speaking out internally about the company's plan to scan iPhones and computers for child sex abuse images. Apple's move has also provoked protests from tech policy groups https://www.reuters.com/... https://twitter.com/...
It'll be interesting to see the reaction to this relative to the recent AGM fiasco. Is this also a woke mob, or a civil liberties mob, or if we agree with the people are they a justifiably-angry group of concerned workers? 🤔 https://twitter.com/...
Big tech should handle the child porn posted on social media public platforms like Facebook and Twitter at scale. Apple and the government should not have access to private citizens devices. https://twitter.com/...
Remember. In a speech to the world's privacy regulators @tim_cook asked “Now, more than ever — as leaders of governments, as decision-makers in business, and as citizens — we must ask ourselves a fundamental question: What kind of world do we want to live in?” Indeed Mr Cook. htt…
Apple says it will scan your iPhones only for evidence of child sexual abuse, but it is dangerously opening a new path for surveillance that could be used for anything. For example, @Apple has a long history of bowing to China when deemed necessary. https://www.nytimes.com/... ht…
I am concerned. Apple cannot and will not say no to potential requests from China given the market and factories >Many expressed worries that the feature could be exploited by repressive governments looking to find other material for censorship or arrests https://www.reuters.com/…
Not all Apple employees are onboard with Apple's on-device scanning plans. “Many expressed worries that the feature could be exploited by repressive governments looking to find other material for censorship or arrests.” https://www.reuters.com/...
@RichFelker @Apple Apple is not doing this as part of a crusade to protect children, or they would not allow it the scans to be bypassed by disabling iCloud Photos. They are doing it to be seen to be doing something while minimizing their involvement. This hurt users and doesn't …
Good. I don't particularly have a strong position on it, but it's absolutely something a tech company should be encouraging debate on. https://twitter.com/...
“Apple employees have flooded an Apple internal Slack channel with more than 800 messages on the plan ... Many expressed worries that the feature could be exploited by repressive governments looking to find other material for censorship or arrests...” https://www.reuters.com/...