And before you think I'm partial, I have no dog in this fight: I degoogled myself since last year and I don't own any Apple devices.
But if I had to choose between Google and Apple for my privacy I would go with Apple (without much illusions).
Google scans your content for CSAM on their servers. And they scan your content for demographic and advertising data and god knows what else.
I do not see your logic here. It appears to be an ill-decided knee-jerk reaction.
It's a bit like saying you don't like how the government spies on you, so you're moving to China.
With Apple's CSAM you have an actual option which is just to not use their iCloud photo sharing.
Or you may be one of the rare breed of people who can use a "de-Googled" Android distribution, such as CalyxOS, for over a month before giving up.
Time will tell, I suppose.
I'd love to have the tolerance to jump to a de-Googled Android phone and bypass FAANG's walled garden. I've tried many times.
I ran (and contributed to!) LineageOS^WCyanogenmod for years and years. It was great.
I can see myself returning to LineageOS (or similar), as iOS is getting quite buggy and I am put off by the wealth of gestures. It seems like whenever I use the iPhone, I accidentally swipe into some other screen. It's like slipping on banana peels.
How does their content get on google's servers?
And last time I checked, there was no content-scanning feature implemented in Android (and especially not in Graphene, Calyx, Lineage, or what ever.)
It's all good though, I'm still using an iPhone. But might switch, especially with so many people in HN comments telling me that Android would scan all my data and send it to Google without being able to substantiate that claim.
Mine doesn't.
Same way it would get onto Apple’s servers: the customer chooses to upload it.
The difference is that with on-device screening, Apple wouldn’t have to take delivery of CSAM to detect it, and it doesn’t have to scan anything that’s not destined to be uploaded.
On top of that, people aren't mad about cloud scanning: that's obviously nothing new. Wasting my CPU resources to do it though? It just further perpetuates this feeling that I don't actually own any of my Apple devices, but rather renting them from a company that seeks collection at every corner. As a developer, I was already appalled. Now that they're starting to cut corners at the expense of the consumer, it's only a matter of time before the veneer chips away and we all realize that Apple is Yet Another Big Tech Company Trying To Be Different (YABTCTTBD).
But as a developer you should know email is inherently not a secure method of communication thus you should not expect any privacy when using it. Email is analogous to sending a postcard through the mail system.
I’ll be right there next to you protesting my right to privacy if they do rollout the feature against our wishes, but until then I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
Also you mention every time Apple is challenged they contend that customers were confused what instances are you referring to?
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wx5yzq/apple-defends-its-ant...
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/08/apple-says-it-wi...
I mean I could go on but benefit of the doubt is gone after seeing Craig defend them so adamantly.
Why would Apple go to all this trouble, get some push back, and just throw their hands up and say you're right, we're not going to search for CSAM, sorry!
IMO, I believe Apple was trying to offload CSAM scanning to devices to save some server-side processing costs. It was an example of Apple being stingy and penny pinching instead of anything nefarious.
See - I'm right there with you about not having much dog in this fight (I don't buy Apple hardware, and I mostly left google about 3 years ago) but I come out on the other side of the coin.
I'd much rather own a device made by folks I know I can't trust. Google is worse, but mostly honest about being worse.
Apple is a snake in the grass, though. I don't know what the fuck they're trying to do, but they sure have a good marketing team. To me, that's unpredictable and scary, even if the current state of their ecosystem is marginally more private.
That's weird.
It's much easier to work with someone (in my opinion) if you both agree you don't get along well and plan accordingly.
Having a co-worker that's sunshine and rainbows to your face, but scanning your phone for CSAM behind your back while talking shit about you to your manager is a lot harder.
How so? Are Google scanning the local files on all Android devices? They might be collecting all sorts of data on what's the phone used for and by whom, but scanning files? Since when?