Tech Experts Sign Open Letter Asking Apple To Not Implement Child Safety Plan

A few days ago, Apple announced that its new feature called neuralMatch would be used to scan devices and the iCloud for child abuse imagery. This was quite the surprise for the company that went against the FBI’s request to unlock a terror suspect’s iPhone. The blowback for this new move in the name of child safety was expected, to say the least. And now, that blowback has manifested in the form of an open letter to the Cupertino company.

The Apple Privacy Letter is a very straightforward one. It, and its signatories, as that the iPhone maker will not go ahead with its child safety plan. The open letter has over 4000 signatories at the time of writing.

The letter also explains why Apple’s plans on the matter is problematic. For one, because the neuralMatch tech is done on device, it circumvents end-to-end encryption. This introduces a backdoor to the system, even if Apple has claimed that this will not be the case.

Another key argument is that the tech, while well-meaning, is prone to being mutated to serve more nefarious means of surveillance. For example, the open letter quotes Dr Nadim Kobeissi, a Security & Privacy researcher, as saying that the tech may be modified to scan for homosexuality or offences against the monarchy, leading to abuse and persecution.

Ultimately, the Apple Privacy Letter asks for two things. One is that Apple doesn’t deploy the content monitoring tech. The other is so that the iPhone maker reaffirms its commitment to user privacy. After all, it has been a key point that the company won’t stop shouting about in nearly all of its announcements.

Govt To Implement Nationwide Ban On Interstate and Inter-District Movements From 10 May Onwards

Aside from having premises that are listed by the HIDE system to be closed immediately, the government has also decided to ban all interstate and inter-district movements throughout the country. The decision was announced by Senior Minister for Defence, Ismail Sabri Yaakob earlier today.

The new directive will be enforced throughout the country starting from this coming Monday, 10 May 2021 and will last for the next four weeks until Sunday, 6 June 2021. This is regardless of whether the area is within the Movement Control Order (MCO), Enhanced MCO (EMCO), Conditional MCO (CMCO), or Recovery MCO (RMCO) zones.

An exception will only be given to those that have received approvals from the police. However, the minister didn’t provide any details regarding activities that can be greenlighted by the police.

That being said, Minister Ismail did say that all social, education, and economic activities that can cause mass gatherings or public congestions will be prohibited starting from this Monday as well. The same restriction also applies to all official and social events as well as face-to-face activities within the government and private sector.

Even though these restrictions will last until early June, they will be reviewed again by the authorities after two weeks according to the minister. Given that there are so many things that are still very unclear about the new directive, we expect further clarifications to be announced tomorrow. So, stay tuned.