The question being debated right now is not “which precise scanning technology should we use,” but rather: “should we scan private photos and messages for CSAM and other illicit content.” By proposing a scanning system that scanned user-private, unshared photos Apple announced that they felt the answer was “yes.” Everything else is a technical detail.
And to be clear, once you’ve established the capability and the principle of the thing, the technical details will not remain static. The EU regulation already requires scanning for novel CSAM content and “grooming conversations,” because the people proposing this tech think hash-based photo scanning is insufficient. Having conceded the need to scan users’ private data Apple would have found itself mired in a long-term losing argument about specific technologies, one that the public wouldn’t understand or care about. And the other side would have the force of law behind them.
What precisely was Apple’s plan to maintain this “balance” then? Refuse to obey the law? Leave Europe? To paraphrase apocryphal Winston Churchill: there is one point at which you can defend your stance on principle, once you abandon that everything else is just haggling on price.
And to be clear, once you’ve established the capability and the principle of the thing, the technical details will not remain static. The EU regulation already requires scanning for novel CSAM content and “grooming conversations,” because the people proposing this tech think hash-based photo scanning is insufficient. Having conceded the need to scan users’ private data Apple would have found itself mired in a long-term losing argument about specific technologies, one that the public wouldn’t understand or care about. And the other side would have the force of law behind them.
What precisely was Apple’s plan to maintain this “balance” then? Refuse to obey the law? Leave Europe? To paraphrase apocryphal Winston Churchill: there is one point at which you can defend your stance on principle, once you abandon that everything else is just haggling on price.