London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2025

Apple’s new ‘child-safety’ features face fresh challenge over censorship & privacy from over 90 rights groups

Apple’s new ‘child-safety’ features face fresh challenge over censorship & privacy from over 90 rights groups

Apple’s controversial plan to scan user photos and conversations for child sexual abuse material (CSAM) faces renewed criticism after rights groups warned it would “censor protected speech”, threaten privacy and endanger children.

In a letter published on the Center for Democracy and Technology website, a coalition of more than 90 groups from around the world urged Apple CEO Tim Cook to drop plans to introduce the surveillance feature – known as a CSAM hash – to detect child pornographic imagery stored on the iCloud.

The letter, published on Thursday, points to the use of “notoriously unreliable” machine learning algorithms to scan for sexually explicit images in the ‘Messages’ service on iOS devices. It notes that this could result in alerts that “threaten the safety and well-being” of young people with abusive parents.

“iMessages will no longer provide confidentiality and privacy to those users through an end-to-end encrypted messaging system in which only the sender and intended recipients have access to the information sent,” the groups warned.

They added that the technology could also open the door to “enormous pressure” and legal compulsions from various governments to scan for images deemed “objectionable” such as protests, human rights violations and even “unflattering images” of politicians.

Signatories to the letter include the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now, Privacy International, and the Tor Project. Besides, a number of overseas groups have added their concerns about the policy’s impact on countries with different legal systems.

An Apple spokesman told Reuters the company had addressed privacy and security concerns earlier. Last week, it released a document detailing why the scanning software’s complex architecture allowed it to resist attempts at abusing it.

Earlier this month, a separate letter posted on GitHub and signed by privacy and security experts, including former NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, condemned the “privacy-invasive content scanning technology”. It also warned that the policy “threatens to undermine fundamental privacy protections” for users, under the guise of child protection.

Other concerns have been raised about the possibility of “false positives” in the hash-scanning feature, which looks for an image’s ‘hash’ – a string of letters and numbers that are unique to the image – and matches it to databases provided by child protection agencies like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).


Although a recent Apple FAQ claimed the likelihood of a false positive “less than one in one trillion [incorrectly flagged accounts] per year”, researchers reported the first case of “hash collision” – where the feature identified two completely different images as producing the same hash – this week.

According to TechCrunch, “hash collisions” are a “death knell” for systems relying on encryption.

However, the tech news outlet said Apple downplayed the concerns in a press call and argued that it had protections in place – including human moderators reviewing flagged incidents before they are reported to law enforcement – to protect against the false positive issue.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Apple Challenges EU Digital Markets Act Crackdown in Landmark Court Battle
Nicolas Sarkozy begins five-year prison term at La Santé in Paris
Japan stocks surge to record as Sanae Takaichi becomes Prime Minister
This Is How the 'Heist of the Century' Was Carried Out at the Louvre in Seven Minutes: France Humiliated as Crown with 2,000 Diamonds Vanishes
China Warns UK of ‘Consequences’ After Delay to London Embassy Approval
France’s Wealthy Shift Billions to Luxembourg and Switzerland Amid Tax and Political Turmoil
"Sniper Position": Observation Post Targeting 'Air Force One' Found Before Trump’s Arrival in Florida
Shouting Match at the White House: 'Trump Cursed, Threw Maps, and Told Zelensky – "Putin Will Destroy You"'
Windows’ Own ‘Siri’ Has Arrived: You Can Now Talk to Your Computer
Thailand and Singapore Investigate Cambodian-Based Prince Group as U.S. and U.K. Sanctions Unfold
‘No Kings’ Protests Inflate Numbers — But History Shows Nations Collapse Without Strong Executive Power
Chinese Tech Giants Halt Stablecoin Launches After Beijing’s Regulatory Intervention
Manhattan Jury Holds BNP Paribas Liable for Enabling Sudanese Government Abuses
Trump Orders Immediate Release of Former Congressman George Santos After Commuting Prison Sentence
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
×