Sorry I haven't had the time to write a thoughtful reply.
Are you talking about a state where cannabis was de-criminalized?
I agree that ease of access does have an effect on people, but the effect of iCloud scanning is so marginal in the grand scheme of things that it's almost like fighting drugs by installing surveillance cameras in malls. They just go trade and smoke elsewhere. The friction is virtually zero, but the privacy concern of scanning on half a billion Apple devices is much worse.
It's worth keeping in mind that CSAM is already highly illegal and banned, whether Apple scans iCloud photos makes no difference on that front. So it's nothing like the difference between weed being de-criminalized or not.
Also, fact is you already have to jump through hoops to obtain CSAM. It's very rare to stumble upon it being casually shared online (I think the last I witnessed it must've been around 15 years ago on 4chan, and somewhere between 5 and 10 years ago in a spam attack on freenode). Trying to search for it on the clearnet is mostly going to yield nothing.
In general, people also tend to know when they're doing something highly illegal. And yet they still do it, just taking the steps to try avoid being caught. No difference with CSAM. They will jump through hoops, and "don't store child porn on iCloud" is the tiniest of hoops to jump for real.
Password protected archives were meant to be just one example of how to bypass scanning on cloud platforms, and one that happens to be widely used among casual pirates. Google drive might be one of the biggest pirate services around these days. The bigger point I was trying to make is just that there are countless ways to share files without exposing their contents to scanning. Nothing for people who are willing to jump through hoops to get CSAM.
Finally, one point I've had to try make over and over again is that detecting the storage or distribution of old (catalogued) CSAM photos is only very tangentially related to actual abuse of childen. Unfortunately that keeps happening even if you destroy the internet and make sure no photo is ever stored in the cloud again.
I've said it before: child abuse and violence existed before cameras and internet, and will continue to exist. Detecting images of abuse or violence is not going to stop abuse or violence.
And if someone makes a system that is efficient at detecting all catalogued (=old) images of CSAM, then that might just create a larger market for "fresh" (uncatalogued) child abuse. Credit to nullc for realizing this.
And on protecting-the-children front, there are much bigger problems than stashes of old CSAM. Like grooming, or chatrooms where child prostitutes are forced to stream for an audience..
Are you talking about a state where cannabis was de-criminalized?
I agree that ease of access does have an effect on people, but the effect of iCloud scanning is so marginal in the grand scheme of things that it's almost like fighting drugs by installing surveillance cameras in malls. They just go trade and smoke elsewhere. The friction is virtually zero, but the privacy concern of scanning on half a billion Apple devices is much worse.
It's worth keeping in mind that CSAM is already highly illegal and banned, whether Apple scans iCloud photos makes no difference on that front. So it's nothing like the difference between weed being de-criminalized or not.
Also, fact is you already have to jump through hoops to obtain CSAM. It's very rare to stumble upon it being casually shared online (I think the last I witnessed it must've been around 15 years ago on 4chan, and somewhere between 5 and 10 years ago in a spam attack on freenode). Trying to search for it on the clearnet is mostly going to yield nothing.
In general, people also tend to know when they're doing something highly illegal. And yet they still do it, just taking the steps to try avoid being caught. No difference with CSAM. They will jump through hoops, and "don't store child porn on iCloud" is the tiniest of hoops to jump for real.
Password protected archives were meant to be just one example of how to bypass scanning on cloud platforms, and one that happens to be widely used among casual pirates. Google drive might be one of the biggest pirate services around these days. The bigger point I was trying to make is just that there are countless ways to share files without exposing their contents to scanning. Nothing for people who are willing to jump through hoops to get CSAM.
Finally, one point I've had to try make over and over again is that detecting the storage or distribution of old (catalogued) CSAM photos is only very tangentially related to actual abuse of childen. Unfortunately that keeps happening even if you destroy the internet and make sure no photo is ever stored in the cloud again.
I've said it before: child abuse and violence existed before cameras and internet, and will continue to exist. Detecting images of abuse or violence is not going to stop abuse or violence.
And if someone makes a system that is efficient at detecting all catalogued (=old) images of CSAM, then that might just create a larger market for "fresh" (uncatalogued) child abuse. Credit to nullc for realizing this.
And on protecting-the-children front, there are much bigger problems than stashes of old CSAM. Like grooming, or chatrooms where child prostitutes are forced to stream for an audience..