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I recently came across an article that says Apple scans all photos in iCloud. I could not find any mention of it on apple support. If this is true, and Apple hasn't made people aware of the practice, how is this not a breach of trust?

I recently came across an article that says Apple scans all photos in iCloud. I could not find any mention of it on apple support. If this is true, and Apple hasn't made people aware of the practice, how is this not a breach of trust? Are there other breaches of trust? Hopefully I am completely wrong and the article was in error; if not, is there an alternative solution?

Thank you

Posted on Dec 9, 2020 7:20 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 10, 2020 10:48 PM

There is link to "Privacy Policy" at the bottom of each Apple Support page https://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy/


The linked document contains this paragraph: (emphasise by me)

  • "We also use personal information to help us create, develop, operate, deliver, and improve our products, services, content and advertising, and for loss prevention and anti-fraud purposes. We may also use your personal information for account and network security purposes, including in order to protect our services for the benefit of all our users, and pre-screening or scanning uploaded content for potentially illegal content, including child sexual exploitation material. Where we use your information for anti-fraud purposes it arises from the conduct of an online transaction with us. We limit our uses of data for anti-fraud purposes to those which are strictly necessary and within our assessed legitimate interests to protect our customers and our services. For certain online transactions we may also validate the information provided by you with publicly accessible sources."

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7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 10, 2020 10:48 PM in response to DogsOfWar

There is link to "Privacy Policy" at the bottom of each Apple Support page https://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy/


The linked document contains this paragraph: (emphasise by me)

  • "We also use personal information to help us create, develop, operate, deliver, and improve our products, services, content and advertising, and for loss prevention and anti-fraud purposes. We may also use your personal information for account and network security purposes, including in order to protect our services for the benefit of all our users, and pre-screening or scanning uploaded content for potentially illegal content, including child sexual exploitation material. Where we use your information for anti-fraud purposes it arises from the conduct of an online transaction with us. We limit our uses of data for anti-fraud purposes to those which are strictly necessary and within our assessed legitimate interests to protect our customers and our services. For certain online transactions we may also validate the information provided by you with publicly accessible sources."

Dec 10, 2020 10:27 PM in response to DogsOfWar

DogsOfWar wrote:

hhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/02/11/how-apple-intercepts-and-reads-emails-when-it-finds-

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/02/11/how-apple-intercepts-and-reads-emails-when-it-finds-child-abuse/?sh=acb23d131c29

There are more articles (search on news.google.com), some suggest that apple scans documents and email. Basically several articles suggest that apple scans everything that isn't end-to-end encrypted.

Thanks for your reply

Nothing about scanning photos, which was your first baseless claim.


One of your links ends in a 404 dead end.


The other contradicts the point you are trying to make.



Facts matter.


Spreading FUD is irresponsible.



Dec 10, 2020 4:04 PM in response to zinacef

hhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/02/11/how-apple-intercepts-and-reads-emails-when-it-finds-


https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2020/02/11/how-apple-intercepts-and-reads-emails-when-it-finds-child-abuse/?sh=acb23d131c29


There are more articles (search on news.google.com), some suggest that apple scans documents and email. Basically several articles suggest that apple scans everything that isn't end-to-end encrypted.


Thanks for your reply

Dec 10, 2020 10:37 PM in response to LACAllen

Sorry about the 404 dead end. If my question was offensive I am sorry. I didn't see any clarification from Apple on this issue so I inquired here. I do hope that Apple does use hashes as the article speculates. It appears that this is a touchy subject so I'm going to try and back out of this conversation.

Thank you for trying to clarify the issue for me.

Dec 10, 2020 10:42 PM in response to DogsOfWar

DogsOfWar wrote:

Sorry about the 404 dead end. If my question was offensive I am sorry. I didn't see any clarification from Apple on this issue so I inquired here. I do hope that Apple does use hashes as the article speculates. It appears that this is a touchy subject so I'm going to try and back out of this conversation.
Thank you for trying to clarify the issue for me.

The article does not "speculate", it uses the phrase "to be clear" before stating that Apple uses hash, as do 2 other major online parties.


Not offensive. Wrong and inaccurate.


And yes, unfounded conspiracy theories are viewed as touchy.

Dec 10, 2020 10:59 PM in response to léonie

Thank you,

In looking things up I've learned a bunch about a subject I knew nothing about; in particular hashing and Microsoft's PhotoDNA Technology. If anyone comes across this post, this articles seems to best describe the technology.

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2020/01/09/apples-scanning-icloud-photos-for-child-abuse-images/


Quote from the above article...

"Horvath didn’t elaborate on the specific technology Apple is using, but whether the company is using its own tools or one such as Microsoft’s PhotoDNA, it’s certainly not alone in using automatic scanning to find illegal images."


At the end of the article...

"In sum, scanning for child abuse materials isn’t new, all the tech giants are doing it, and Apple’s not reading actual messages or looking directly at photo content."

I recently came across an article that says Apple scans all photos in iCloud. I could not find any mention of it on apple support. If this is true, and Apple hasn't made people aware of the practice, how is this not a breach of trust?

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