Announcement of Minor Obscene Photo Scanning Feature Release
Concerns Over Privacy Invasion Grow
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] Controversy is growing as Apple announced plans to launch a feature that scans for child sexual abuse images by analyzing photos stored on users' iCloud servers, raising concerns about privacy invasion.
On the 5th (local time), Bloomberg reported that Apple plans to distribute a software update within this year to scan for child sexual abuse images targeting users in the United States.
According to the report, Apple intends to use artificial intelligence to analyze photos uploaded to iCloud servers and detect images suspected of child sexual abuse. This system operates within the user's iPhone, performing photo analysis internally on the device before the photos are uploaded to the server.
Apple claims that this process will also protect users' personal information and privacy. According to an Apple official, the company will apply a technology called 'NeuralHash,' an encryption process that assigns a unique identification number to each user's photo.
These encrypted photos will then be compared and analyzed against the photo database of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a child rights protection organization, to detect pornographic images or photos.
Apple plans to immediately notify NCMEC of any detected illicit material after a re-examination by its employees. Although NCMEC is a nonprofit private organization, it is known to have a close cooperative relationship with U.S. law enforcement agencies. Additionally, the iCloud account of the user whose photo was found will be suspended.
Some voices have raised concerns that this could lead to privacy violations and even suppress freedom of expression by being used as a tool to curb political opinions.
Matthew Green, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, warned, "Apple has sent a clear signal that it can look into citizens' personal mobile devices for illegal information monitoring," adding, "Governments worldwide are likely to demand this technology in the future."
The digital rights organization EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) also issued a statement on its blog, calling it "shocking news from a company that has emphasized privacy protection," and pointed out that "there are virtually no surveillance and oversight measures to prevent Apple from viewing other user information."
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