![AE244E5D-736C-4614-A334-3E92A0DA35BD.webp](https://images.hive.blog/DQmZNTQudZp2ZPfrwg7Q1UEGxCVuA59HpCpsaDA1B6rBVhA/AE244E5D-736C-4614-A334-3E92A0DA35BD.webp)
[source](https://amp.ft.com/content/5738b12a-ad3d-11e9-8030-530adfa879c2)



Fresh out of the internet/tech world are growing concerns about surveillance and privacy invasion. Everyday, there are reasons to question the role of Big tech in our society, are they for or against the users? Latest word on the street has it that Apple is releasing a client side tool for CSAM scanning in the nearest future. 

For those who don’t know, CSAM means Child Sexual Abuse Material. These tools will allow Apple scan your iPhone photos for photos that match a specific perceptual hash and report them to Apple servers if too many appear. On paper, the upgrade will only allow Apple have access to and scan client side cloud photos. 

It may seem simple and harmless but in reality there are more calls for concern than not. Majority of iPhone users use iCloud as back up storage for data. This is not just giving Apple access to people’s data, but also allowing them the ability to  run scan on the data and try to match it with specific flagged photo hashes. It is understandable that we all want to put an end to terrorism, mass murderers, child pornography and all that,...

But that’s the thing about these tools, they start out with potentially good intentions, however, is it too far fetched to think there’s a possibility that it might end up in the wrong hands? for example, becoming a surveillance tool to an authoritarian government. These are legitimate concerns. If you read the article in the link below, you will see the history of Apple in conjunction with China relating to how they’ve  handled users data over the years. 


![6C7B3F3C-0BCF-4E70-812E-520E5971A1A7.jpeg](https://images.hive.blog/DQmVcnVsL6oTAocPENZonBXNAkXukDrNpuVFyfeHjcScFEh/6C7B3F3C-0BCF-4E70-812E-520E5971A1A7.jpeg)
[Link to post](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.amp.html)

If we look at the case of this tool the same way Bitcoin is being looked at as not a good or bad tool but depends on how and what it is used for, we may be right, but what is the guarantee that Apple is going to use it for only good? What is the assurance that this tool will not be manipulated by bad actors as the article in the link above has shown us how several tools made by Apple have been exploited by governments? 

This is just one part of the issues, there is also the issue of wrong matching as the systems from which these hashes rely upon are [said to be problematic](https://towardsdatascience.com/black-box-attacks-on-perceptual-image-hashes-with-gans-cc1be11f277). Imagine the possibility of a totally harmless picture sharing the same hash as one of the  flagged pictures in the system. That such tool is made to be the determining factor of whether or not someone is guilty is something that should be worrisome. 

> *GUIYANG, China — On the outskirts of this city in a poor, mountainous province in southwestern China, men in hard hats recently put the finishing touches on a white building a quarter-mile long with few windows and a tall surrounding wall. There was little sign of its purpose, apart from the flags of Apple and China flying out front, side by side.*

>*Inside, Apple was preparing to store the personal data of its Chinese customers on computer servers run by a state-owned Chinese firm.*

>*Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has said the data is safe. But at the data center in Guiyang, which Apple hoped would be completed by next month, and another in the Inner Mongolia region, Apple has largely ceded control to the Chinese government.*

> *Chinese state employees physically manage the computers. Apple abandoned the encryption technology it used elsewhere after China would not allow it. And the digital keys that unlock information on those computers are stored in the data centers they’re meant to secure.*
[According to nytimes](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-censorship-data.amp.html)


Interesting isn’t it? Now tell me the concerns stated are not legit! However, there are chances that while these concerns are legit, there is no call for them as Apple has not released any statement declaring that they are making this upgrade, whether or not they will is yet to be known. It all makes me think, at what point do we begin to have mobile operating systems or mobile devices that are fully backed by blockchain technology? 

At least we know that with Blockchain technology, people can own their data which is fully secured and  encrypted with keys that only the user has access to. Concerning busting criminal activities, governments and crime control units are responsible for finding less privacy intrusive ways of tracking down bad actors. This is what I think, I could be wrong, what do you think? 


[Who Will Be The First To Build a Blockchain Powered Mobile O.S](https://leofinance.io/@mistakili/who-will-be-the-first-to-build-a-blockchain-powered-mobile-o-s)


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