90+ NGOs ask Apple to think again on surveillance plan

Apple plans to protect kids are well intentioned

Apple continues to face pressure over its intrusive on-device surveillance plans, particularly as security researchers begin to identify what may be flaws in the approach, flaws which pose huge dangers to us all.

Today, over 90 NGOs have written a joint letter begging the company to think again about this plan. Take a look at Apple’s plan here.

Last week, Apple’s top brass attempted to still these waters, and failed – the question of mission creep at this scale cannot rely on an answer based on corporate trust. The crowd of voices raised against its plans continues to expand, crying:

‘Please, Apple, don’t do this’

Groups signing the latest letter include Liberty, Big Brother Watch. ACLU, Center for Democracy & Technology, Centre for Free Expression, EFF, ISOC, Privacy International and many more. Representation comes from groups across the entire planet, concerned at Apple’s plan.

One of the big concerns is that Apple’s system may itself be abused by abusive adults. “LGBTQ+ youths on family accounts with unsympathetic parents are particularly at risk,” they write. “As a result of this change, iMessages will no longer provide confidentiality and privacy to those users.”

The letter noted that the algorithms Apple intends to deploy to detect explicit images in Messages are “notoriously unreliable…and prone to mistakenly flag art, health information, educational resources, advocacy messages, and other imagery.”

On children’s rights

“Children’s rights to send and receive such information are protected in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Moreover, the system Apple has developed assumes that the ‘parent’ and ‘child’ accounts involved actually belong to an adult who is the parent of a child, and that those individuals have a healthy relationship. This may not always be the case; an abusive adult may be the organiser of the account, and the consequences of parental notification could threaten the child’s safety and wellbeing. LGBTQ+ youths on family accounts with unsympathetic parents are particularly at risk.”

Apple is also introducing a second capability that will scan every photo that users upload to iCloud against a hash database of CSAM images provided by child safety organizations and, when a threshold number of matches is met, disable the account and report the user and those images to authorities.

Who’s brother is watching you?

Fear of mission creep

Sharon Bradford Franklin, Co-Director of the CDT Security & Surveillance Project, says the coalition is concerned that Apple will face pressure from governments around the globe to scan for images other than CSAM that they find objectionable.

“We can expect governments will take advantage of the surveillance capability Apple is building into iPhones, iPads and computers. They will demand that Apple scan for and block images of human rights abuses, political protests, and other content that should be protected as free expression, which forms the backbone of a free and democratic society,” she said.

The letter concludes:

“We support efforts to protect children and stand firmly against the proliferation of CSAM. But the changes that Apple has announced put children and its other users at risk both now and in the future. We urge Apple to abandon those changes and to reaffirm the company’s commitment to protecting its users with end-to-end encryption. We also urge Apple to more regularly consult with civil society groups, and with vulnerable communities who may be disproportionately impacted by changes to its products and services.”

[Also read: An inside look at the Apple Leaks business]

I agree

I’m sorry to say it, but I agree with this. While I do believe Apple is well intentioned, the truth is that this technology is a realization of dystopian fantasy. The protections Apple proposes putting in place seem insufficiently robust, the existence of the tech means those barriers will inevitably be overcome and Apple does not have the ability to resist rules imposed upon it by any nation it does business in.

I am also concerned that now the tech has been revealed, there is no way Apple can step it back.

Photo by Chris Yang on Unsplash.

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