EFF wants Apple to drop CSAM scanning plans entirely
- The EFF has urged Apple to abandon all CSAM scanning plans.
- Apple has faced harsh backlash following the announcement of new CSAM scanning tools built into iOS.
- Only time will tell what Apple will do on the matter.
After Apple’s announcement on the 3rd regarding delaying its plans to bring CSAM scanning to Apple devices, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) responded favorably. Now, the EFF wants Apple to go even further and abandon these plans completely.
EFF is pleased Apple is now listening to the concerns of customers, researchers, civil liberties organizations, human rights activists, LGBTQ people, youth representatives, and other groups, about the dangers posed by its phone scanning tools. But the company must go further than just listening, and drop its plans to put a backdoor into its encryption entirely.
In a new statement from the EFF, the group revisited the criticisms that Apple has faced from over 90 worldwide organizations and large groups of the public following its announcement to start scanning users' iCloud photos for CSAM images.
The EFF started a petition against Apple’s Initiative and managed to reach 25,000 signatures on September 1st, and was nearing 27,000 at the time of publication. The EFF also says that the figure grows to over 50,000 signatures, when taking into account similar petitions from other groups including Open Media and Fight for the Future.
Given the scale of backlash that Apple has faced since revealing its new CSAM scanning tools, it is likely that it will scale back the endeavor or even cancel it altogether. Although this is possible, only time will tell what Apple actually will do regarding this matter. In the meantime, the iPhone 13 lineup is expected to be released later this month alongside other hardware and iOS and iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, macOS Monterey, and more.
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