“Bugs in our pockets. The risks of client-side scanning” - a new analysis of the Apple-inspired systems that are intended to scan for child abuse content directly on mobile devices.

The primary argument can be easily dismissed as slippery slope, which it technically is, but some slippery slopes are actually a valid prediction:

But ‘if you build it, they will come’. If device vendors are compelled to install remote surveillance, the demands will start to roll in. Who could possibly be so cold-hearted as to argue against the system being extended to search for missing children? Then President Xi will want to know who has photos of the Dalai Lama, or of men standing in front of tanks; and copyright lawyers will get court orders blocking whatever they claim infringes their clients’ rights. Our phones, which have grown into extensions of our intimate private space, will be ours no more; they will be private no more; and we will all be less secure.

The paper brings actual cases from China and Russia where 1) technical countermeasures initially introduced to combat child abuse and terrorism quickly escalated into blocking literally anything government considers inconvenient, 2) Western companies were actively complying and cooperating with these governments in enforcing these controls.

https://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2021/10/15/bugs-in-our-pockets/ #apple #security #privacy