Apple’s iMessage Photo Scanning For Child Safety Arrives With Key Change

Apple has released the second beta build of iOS 15.2, and it introduces a child-safety feature that blurs explicit imagery in the Messages app by performing a scan on incoming and outgoing pictures. Apple announced the feature earlier this year as part of its “Expanded Protections for Children” goals with the aim of protecting young children using its devices and services.

The company originally announced that potentially harmful photos will be blurred and an on-screen warning will appear about the harm of opening such an image. It will also be accompanied by resources that can help children stay safe and avoid predatory behavior by bad actors. And if the user attempts to send such problematic content, there is a provision of alerting the parents after showing a warning first.

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With the rollout of iOS 15.2 Beta 2, Apple has finally released the feature after an initial delay over privacy and security concerns. Apple claims that the image-scanning is performed on-device using machine learning to determine if the images that are being sent or received are harmful. More importantly, Apple assures that it doesn’t get access to Messages, thanks to the layer of encryption it has put in place. However, privacy advocates and cybersecurity have previously warned that the scanning tech goes against Apple’s heavily-advertised privacy-first principles and it will set the precedent for more intrusive behavior in the future.

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Another area of concern was how the feature was designed in the first place. When a problematic image is received in Messages, it will be blurred and opening it will alert parents. A similar parental alert will be triggered when users are trying to send sensitive images. However, child safety experts and others raised an alarm about these alerts, arguing that all guardians are not necessarily looking out for a child’s best interests in all cases, and these alerts could actually end up doing more damage than the benefits they intend to offer by exposing children to abusive parents or guardians.

CNET reports that Apple has changed how the alert system for its child safety feature in Messages will work moving forward. Apple will now let children decide if they want their parents to get a safety alert after receiving images deemed sensitive. The aforementioned prompt will be different from instances where the user chooses to unblur a problematic image and view it. The child safety feature has arrived as part of a beta update, which suggests that Apple is still testing the waters. Moreover, the UI might look different and a few aspects might also change if, and when, it is released widely. To recall, Apple had to put its iCloud photo-scanning plans on hold following an outcry from experts and how it opens the floodgates of surveillance behavior on Apple’s ecosystem of devices and services.

Sources: Apple, CNET

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