Security News > 2021 > August > Apple is about to start scanning iPhone users' devices for banned content, professor warns

Apple is about to announce a new technology for scanning individual users' iPhones for banned content.

The neural network-based tool will scan individual users' iDevices for child sexual abuse material, respected cryptography professor Matthew Green told The Register today.

Indiscriminately scanning end-user devices for CSAM is a new step in the ongoing global fight against this type of criminal content.

Using machine learning to intrusively scan end user devices is new, however - and may shake public confidence in Apple's privacy-focused marketing.

"Apple is the only service that still operates a major E2EE service in China, in iMessage. With this technology public, will China demand that Apple add scanning capability to iMessage? I don't know. But I'm sure a lot more worried about it than I was two days ago."

The privacy-busting scanning tech will be deployed against America-based iThing users first, with the idea being to gradually expand it around the world as time passes.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/08/05/apple_csam_scanning/