Apple's track record on user protection compared to Google or Samsung has been very good. For example, resisting wide net Federal "because terrorism" warrants as much as they legally can.
There's a reason why Apple 0 day exploits sell for way more on the black market than Android exploits.
Trust is hard to earn, easy to lose and even harder to regain. User trust is such a huge part of Apple's business and success, it's shocking to me they'd damage it so much and so fast.
A system that exists but has "protections" can and will be abused. A system that doesn't exist can't be. It's really that simple.
Here's the big question though: did Apple executives not realize there would be a backlash against this? Or did they just not care? Either is hard to fathom. Apple's board and shareholders should be asking some pretty tough questions of Tim Cook at this point.
> There's a reason why Apple 0 day exploits sell for way more on the black market than Android exploits.
FWIW, every article I see is about iOS exploits being cheaper than android because there are so many of them. Those articles all seem to be from around 2019, though. It seems like before 2019 what you said was true. I'm sure sure what prices are like within the last two years.
And yet, the way Apple openly operates iCloud in China is infinitely worse than Google's Dragonfly ever could have been. Apple's reputation for privacy is entirely undeserved.
I believe, that this chaos is mostly caused by the leaked information, which was presented in a bit missleading way.
The fire was spreading, and Apple went along to announce it publicly. It was too late to argue for reading their materials properly. In-device scanning was on everyone’s head.
Some have argued, that leak was even intentional to lower pressures on new regulations. Or it was just whistleblowing.
But there is a lot of evidence, that Apple is going closer to full E2EE with this PSI system, and original goal might have been announce everything in incoming iPhone event. That might have ended even into the positive light.
That strikes me as a much more nuanced and sensible take than all the facile "Apple's privacy stance has always just been a marketing ploy to maximise profits, you sheeple".
There's a reason why Apple 0 day exploits sell for way more on the black market than Android exploits.
Trust is hard to earn, easy to lose and even harder to regain. User trust is such a huge part of Apple's business and success, it's shocking to me they'd damage it so much and so fast.
A system that exists but has "protections" can and will be abused. A system that doesn't exist can't be. It's really that simple.
Here's the big question though: did Apple executives not realize there would be a backlash against this? Or did they just not care? Either is hard to fathom. Apple's board and shareholders should be asking some pretty tough questions of Tim Cook at this point.