No, but a ‘bit flip’ could make them do so just as easily as a ‘bit flip’ could ...

pritambaral · on Aug 13, 2021

How are you still not getting this?: "search" and "spotlight" do not have the code to report anything to anyone.

zepto · on Aug 14, 2021

How are you still not getting it? The code to ‘report’ something is barely more than a one liner http request. It could be added at any time.

On the other hand, making the CSAM code scan your text documents would be pointlessly difficult given that the other mechanisms exist.

pritambaral · on Aug 14, 2021

> It could be added at any time.

It has already been added. That's the point here. The phone already has the code to report its own owner. People are rightfully pissed about that.

Also, adding a one-liner of code is a lot more than a bit-flip. That's the addition of a feature, which is a major business decision. Code that already exists is a lot closer to "misfiring" than code that simply does not. Flipping a policy config, OTOH, could be "explained" away a lot easier. In fact, Big Tech does it all the time! (Remember Facebook's "Oh. Sorry. It was a bug."?)

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Please stop this poor attempt at moving the goalposts by saying, "But, similar code could be added at any time in the future! Why're you guys complaining now?!"

It's also not about where the scanning is happening, or whether that's new or old. The old scanning is not a problem, precisely because it does no reporting. The new scanning IS a problem, precisely because it does the reporting.

The former is not a problem on its own. The latter is. That's the point you keep missing.