Scanning data on users devices is asignificant change.
In addition, Apple is using a complicated scanning systemthat is hard to audit.
Thus, customers face a stark reality: If you use an iPhone, you have to trust Apple.
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Other large tech companies also have considerable control over customers devices and insight into their data.
What is trust?
People base the decision to trust on experience, signs and signals.
They cannot guarantee future action.
Therefore, trust is a matter of probabilities.
You are, in a sense, rolling the dice whenever you trust someone or an organization.
Trustworthiness is a hidden property.
However, Apple has given little proof regarding how this system will work in practice.
In practice, the Chinese government hasaccess to all user data.
What will be different this time?
It should also be noted that Apple is not operating this system on its own.
Thus, trusting Apple is not enough.
Users must also trust the companys partners to act benevolently and with integrity.
Another concern is unintended consequences.
Apple might really want to protect children and protect users privacy at the same time.
Governments might pass laws to extend scanning to other material deemed illegal.
Tech companies that choose to operate in China areforced to submit to censorship, for example.
Risks are different depending on who you are and where you are in the world.
An activist in India faces different threats and risks than an Italian defense lawyer.
Trust is a matter of probabilities, and risks are not only probabilistic but also situational.
A company might be trustworthy today but not tomorrow.
Last but not least, Big Tech does not exist in a vacuum and is not all-powerful.
