On one hand this is very worrisome as there’s literally no difference between how this detects CSAM and any other specific image, like say a man in front of a tank. However because it’s working with a type of hash, it’s only searching for already known and catalogued images.
Now comes the scary part.
While this sounds like a ‘can be turned off for now’ option, on your phone will sit an almost certainly poorly trained neural network reviewing every messenger photo for nudity. Again there’s no reason this network couldn’t be trained to look for symbols, or certain ethnicities (Given the way training goes, I’m waiting for this to start flagging all Asian women as potential porn).
As far as I’m aware, there’s no evidence that suggests this tracking does anything to prevent actual child abuse, but is certainly a great excuse to integrate encrypted messaging app breaking image scanning into a now more NSA and CCP friendly platform.
Essentially it’s difficult but possible to create two different files with the same hash. Apple says they know about this vulnerability and have a second system that will guard against this. No you may not see the second system.
This was interesting. Apple went out of it’s way to nerf the iPhone 13’s functions if it’s repaired by a third party.
In the video they take two legit iPhone 13s and swap pieces between them. Once swapped Face ID stops working, as well as Truetone, auto-brightness and portrait mode on the selfie cam, with the camera app occasionally locking up. The phone warns the user they aren’t using apple parts.
Of course he is using apple parts, but each of these phones is coded to only fully work if the part’s serial numbers match those coded to the phone and only Apple has the software able to change the phones acceptable list. Which means to maintain a fully functional phone users *must* have it repaired by apple. Those who want legit apple parts but are unwilling to pay apple’s fee, will just have to accept a nerfed phone.
Which also means that despite all of apple’s ‘oh look we’re so green, look at all the waste we’ve saved’ an iphone 13 will only stay fully functional for as long as apple decides to support it’s repair.
Apple has announced the new NotchBook Pro, with revolutionary notch feature!
I can’t help but think they chose dark colors at top on purpose.
I look forward to a few years from now when apple releases the revolutionary No-notch design, a feature never before seen on laptops.
Beyond that, the specs seem nice, apple finally put back a number of ports to reduce the amount of dongle, which is why I presume they will eventually drop the notch, to artificially inflate features of a future product.
That’s fine, you can hide the notch if you don’t like it, by… adding a black top border.
I’ve always kinda scoffed at the ‘cult of apple’ claims, but this really feels like cult indoctrination where true-members of the unquestioned leader are pushed to spin something that’s detrimental to them as actually good, or acceptable.