>Do you seriously think Apple would have made a big song and dance about their proposal around CSAM scanning if the intent was to implement it regardless?
I think the reason why people are angry at Apple in spite of their climbdown is because Apple did a lot of damage announcing it the way they did.
Far from "inviting a debate" on how or whether this can be done in a safe and privacy friendly way, they made an announcement explaining exactly what they were going to do and how it was going to work.
The message was received loud and clear by politicians who are up against critics disputing the technical feasibility of surveilling the entire population in a safe and privacy friendly way.
Apple has dealt a hammer blow to privacy advocates. The effects of Apple's announcement have been percolating through parliaments and law enforcement agencies all over the world ever since.
Add to that the effects of Apple's side-loading ban, which is hands complete control over what software people can and cannot install to authoritarian rulers across the planet, their decision to hand over Chinese iCloud operations (including encryption keys) to a state owned company, and their willingness to make questionable security claims in defense of their own business model.
The picture that emerges is not pretty.
At the same time, Apple provides privacy protections to hundereds of millions of people who would not otherwise have them - realistically speaking.
If mobile OS competition was between Google, Microsoft and Samsung, there would not be a setting to blanket disable all tracking requests. Markets often end up in an equilibrium where certain choices simply don't exist.
Regulating this space without doing more harm than good is very difficult. We're going to have to wait and see whether the EU has done a good job this time.
I think the reason why people are angry at Apple in spite of their climbdown is because Apple did a lot of damage announcing it the way they did.
Far from "inviting a debate" on how or whether this can be done in a safe and privacy friendly way, they made an announcement explaining exactly what they were going to do and how it was going to work.
The message was received loud and clear by politicians who are up against critics disputing the technical feasibility of surveilling the entire population in a safe and privacy friendly way.
Apple has dealt a hammer blow to privacy advocates. The effects of Apple's announcement have been percolating through parliaments and law enforcement agencies all over the world ever since.
Add to that the effects of Apple's side-loading ban, which is hands complete control over what software people can and cannot install to authoritarian rulers across the planet, their decision to hand over Chinese iCloud operations (including encryption keys) to a state owned company, and their willingness to make questionable security claims in defense of their own business model.
The picture that emerges is not pretty.
At the same time, Apple provides privacy protections to hundereds of millions of people who would not otherwise have them - realistically speaking.
If mobile OS competition was between Google, Microsoft and Samsung, there would not be a setting to blanket disable all tracking requests. Markets often end up in an equilibrium where certain choices simply don't exist.
Regulating this space without doing more harm than good is very difficult. We're going to have to wait and see whether the EU has done a good job this time.