This technology could have led to the arrests of hardcore criminals and spared some poor children a very difficult life. Well now we know where this generations priorities and values stand.
All this did was make it more annoying for criminals and maybe make it easier to catch dumb criminals - who would have been caught by other means anyway.
Worse-- this system only would detect old widely circulated images. Arguably, it may increase the incentive to create undetectable novel imagery for closed circulation, creating new instances of abuse in the process.
Police making random nighttime sweeps of homes in your community would also likely catch some serious criminals. Our decisions have to be based on more than just the potential of a narrow benefit. It's not sufficient to reduce one ill in the world if the result is a world less worth living in overall.
Valuing and prioritizing privacy is not advocating for crimes against children.
What happens when Apple adds brainwave detection to their Airpods? Now all I have to do is have a fleeting thought about something that is deemed unacceptable by the ruling class and the authorities show up and arrest me.
So in your perfect little world where do you draw the line? Is it there or the next logical step where AI deems that based on it’s algorithm you are going to break some law tomorrow and now they are going to preemptively take action?
Privacy matters.