A wake-up call for iPhone users – it's time to go(fsf.org)
fsf.org
A wake-up call for iPhone users – it's time to go
https://www.fsf.org/news/a-wake-up-call-for-iphone-users-its-time-to-go
24 comments
Go where, FSF?
To Software Candyland, where Richard Stallman will supervise everything instead of naaaaasty bad Apple people.
I think Richard Stallman advocates for the exact opposite of what you seem to imply. He favors open source for everything, and not using any closed source. How is that him "supervising everything?"
You're missing the point. Folks are advocating not having Apple policing the app store and allowing other app stores, instead, which will be magically better-policed somehow, which is of course total bullshit. Thus my comment. FSF wants to get rid of what works for consumers, and gives consumers very tangible security and convenience benefits, and then replace it with...nothing. Nothing at all. And then just fantasize away all the benefits like they were not there. That's bullshit.
Librem 5?
I'm strongly considering not upgrading to iOS 15 because of this on-device photo library scanning stuff.
Apple tracks upgrade rates internally and externally - hopefully they'd see the message loud and clear.
Meanwhile, iOS 14 will still receive security updates for another couple years.
Apple tracks upgrade rates internally and externally - hopefully they'd see the message loud and clear.
Meanwhile, iOS 14 will still receive security updates for another couple years.
People have nothing to hide.
People love inertia and convenience.
People don't believe in privacy, they care about status and virtue signaling.
People are consumers first, everything else is second or third.
There is no "alternative".
Less privacy is better than no privacy, right?
Right.
People love Apple. I repeat. Love.
So to summarize:
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.
Just watch Apple breaking another iPhone sells record.
Reminds me of Intel Management Engine (IME) [1] in “ring -3”, except that, unlike IME, the ones in iPhone cannot be “turned off” in the BIOS.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Management_Engine
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Management_Engine
"In the coming weeks, users will be allowing Apple to comb through a portable computer containing private messages, photos, videos, banking information, and business records; all without anyone being able to verify what it is looking for, or with whom it is sharing that information."
Does anyone know if security researchers will be able to figure out this kind of information? Are the hashes known, for example? So would non-CSAM hashes be detectable? Seems like people could, in principle, load various non-illegal images and video onto an iPhone and see what, if anything, is reported - the phone must send some information at some point so traffic analysis should reveal it.
Does anyone know if security researchers will be able to figure out this kind of information? Are the hashes known, for example? So would non-CSAM hashes be detectable? Seems like people could, in principle, load various non-illegal images and video onto an iPhone and see what, if anything, is reported - the phone must send some information at some point so traffic analysis should reveal it.
And make Android a monopoly? How would that be better?
Linux distros for phones - PinePhone, Librem, or even hackable Android phones like Pixel 3a - exist and depending on your usecase are... mature enough to use as a daily driver.
As long as you avoid platform lock-in apps anyway. Again, very dependant on your usecase.
As long as you avoid platform lock-in apps anyway. Again, very dependant on your usecase.
Yeah, they're really not. Not for average people.
And I 100% guarantee you that if a Linux-based phone did become popular, it would have every major privacy issue Android does now—including, in many cases, Google getting access to stuff, because most people will want their Gmail, Google Photos, etc to be accessible through the phone.
I know people think this decision of Apple's is somehow way worse than anything anyone else in the industry is doing, but...how, exactly? When it's literally the same thing the other players in the industry are doing, just in a way that attempts to preserve user privacy in a technologically meaningful (if ideologically impure) way...
And I 100% guarantee you that if a Linux-based phone did become popular, it would have every major privacy issue Android does now—including, in many cases, Google getting access to stuff, because most people will want their Gmail, Google Photos, etc to be accessible through the phone.
I know people think this decision of Apple's is somehow way worse than anything anyone else in the industry is doing, but...how, exactly? When it's literally the same thing the other players in the industry are doing, just in a way that attempts to preserve user privacy in a technologically meaningful (if ideologically impure) way...
It's a US company which complies with US laws.
I hope i got it right: they scan private content, which users try to upload to an Apple/Amazon cloud server? The scan job is done by the iphone instead of the server, maybe because it's "smart", resource-saving or because it happens before the upload. First thought in the private law domain would be: entities controlling access to their ressources (serverspace) is nothing new or special. People uploading images and videos, which they want to be private, to "clouds", which are sold as private, but are unhappily not private, maybe because digital culture is faster than law, deserve a wake-up-call and new laws.
Not only this, but google and amazon both already scan the stuff you upload to their clouds for the same thing, they just do it on their server.
The theory I've heard for Apple doing it on device instead of the server is that its cheaper for them and in theory could be more private.
The theory I've heard for Apple doing it on device instead of the server is that its cheaper for them and in theory could be more private.
Ok, I need to ask this question:
HOW is this scanning different than what antivirus has been doing since like forever?
HOW is this scanning different than what antivirus has been doing since like forever?
If you can't tell the difference between malware and your personal photos, I can't help you.
That is not the issue. AV scans files, you might be able to actually configure what kind, but the matching is done based on whatever the AV company decides is worth matching.
No one in their right mind thinks this scanning has not been abused by others.
But now that (you know) images are being scanned the world's ablaze.
It is still silly, proof me wrong.
No one in their right mind thinks this scanning has not been abused by others.
But now that (you know) images are being scanned the world's ablaze.
It is still silly, proof me wrong.
If you can't answer a question without handwaving, I probably don't believe you even understand it.
Alarmism just makes people even more scared to take the first step to move to any alternatives. When they realise nothing is lost, they will just stay.