An interesting thing in this whole tempest is the notion of the CSAM itself. Specifically, there are more than a few people whose argument against Apple seems to be, implicitly, that CSAM is something of a moral panic. It exists but not at the scale that Apple needs to embed this technology in every device. Other posts alleged NCMEC lies about stats, ostensibly to justify their budgets (if CSAM is not a growing problem, then they don't need more funds). Others insist that the existing means of policing don't work in an increasingly technical world; and the bad guys are good at this stuff. I don't know which side is right - or if there even is a "right", here.

To me, then, the whole thing at least partly rests on those questions. If CSAM is a moral panic, then this technology is not just bad, but doubly so. Apple got played by the Feds, or maybe they really have been dreaming of backdooring their devices and finally had the rationale they needed.

But if CSAM isn't a moral panic but an actual growing problem that needs a technical solution (or assist), what are we to do? Just shrug and say "well it's a hard problem, maybe one day we'll solve it" and hope for the best?