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MacSince1985

macrumors 6502
Oct 18, 2009
404
295
Yeah, but nothing stops them from using other means to look into nude photos if they so desire.
This is as useful as having an alarm system on the cookie jar. If the child want the cookie bad enough, they have other means of obtaining a cookie.
That's where traditional parenting takes over. If the parent knows what the child has done, he/she can have an age-appropriate discussion with the child about the subject. It's just one of many tools to protect children online, and like all tools, its efficacy depends on how it's used.
 
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nortonandreev

macrumors 68030
Jan 11, 2016
2,607
3,803
Europe
Why? It’s optional and protects children. How is that disappointing.
Protect what from exactly? In countries, like the U.K., sex is almost seen as crime. People turn 18-20 and have zero experience, have no one to talk about such stuff with, because parents, school, government and big tech companies have been telling them that sex and nudity is sinful and a crime and that they should be punished for any activity related to that. How is this “protective”? Sex has become a taboo, even tho it is the most normal thing in one’s life, and all of this restrictiveness is quite dangerous in my opinion and has life-time consequences.
 

usagora

macrumors 601
Nov 17, 2017
4,869
4,451
Yes, the pearl-clutching in this thread and in general is pretty funny, actually

Not wanting people sending nudes to your child is not "pearl-clutching". It's often illegal as well. Not sure why you would make light of it. And my post was simply pointing out a fact of how the system is designed, not editorializing it.
 

PandaPunch

macrumors regular
May 4, 2015
204
186
To be honest, I kinda wished Apple would apply this for adults as well to reduce harassment from malicious people sending unwanted violent or sexual images.
 

cupcakes2000

macrumors 68040
Apr 13, 2010
3,896
5,320
Protect what from exactly? In countries, like the U.K., sex is almost seen as crime. People turn 18-20 and have zero experience, have no one to talk about such stuff with, because parents, school, government and big tech companies have been telling them that sex and nudity is sinful and a crime and that they should be punished for any activity related to that. How is this “protective”? Sex has become a taboo, even tho it is the most normal thing in one’s life, and all of this restrictiveness is quite dangerous in my opinion and has life-time consequences.
What are you talking about? (Bold emphasis mine)
 

coolfactor

macrumors 604
Jul 29, 2002
7,195
9,977
Vancouver, BC
At least they say this is on-device and nothing is sent to Apple. But still, there is one functionality that would render these things useless, and it is called "Parenting"

I have seen a lot of people not pleased with this. Sorry didn’t mean to offend anyone, but I do think that there’s no way the tool can really catch all threats, especially internationally when no one uses iMessage to begin with.

Basis is just establishing trust and communication with your kids, doing this together and yes eventually checking on the stuff they’re doing in your devices. No tool it is going to 100% prevent any risks, especially with all the apps and different media channels that exist.

Looking at these statements — "catch ALL threats" ... "100% PREVENT" (emphasis mine).

Tools like this are not about trying to be 100% perfect, and their inability to be perfect does not render them useless. This is the same flawed argument used during the pandemic about masks. Tools like this (like masks) are about *reducing* the risk, and they do exactly that.
 
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sudo-sandwich

Suspended
Aug 5, 2021
671
558
I am on the same page. I, as many others, took so much time in other threads explaining and reexplaining the difference between the two, but there are still people here who are screaming about CSAM scanning when we’re talking about Communication Safety Feature (which I don’t have any problem with)
Cause it's not a coincidence that they're working on both at the same time. Just because they're unrelated right now doesn't mean it'll stay that way in the future. We also don't really know what's happening within closed-source code running on a notoriously hardware-secured phone, so it becomes a simple matter of how much you trust Apple, not about technical knowledge.

This doesn't particularly bother me, but for other people, I get it.
 
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erikkfi

macrumors 68000
May 19, 2017
1,726
8,088
This is the closest thing we can hope for to on-demand, police-like intervention. It's not perfect but it's welcome. To the people who think that a dose of parenting is the only thing that is really needed here: shall we also strike flashing from the criminal code? I mean, stuff happens, right, and we don't want to stop kids from evolving?
 
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JippaLippa

macrumors 68000
Jan 14, 2013
1,521
1,755
By the way so glad I don't want children, because I can't imagine what a mess parenting must be these days with socials, easy access to internet, the dark web and the metaverse...
You either risk your child becoming a degenerate/severly traumatised, or becoming a paranoid mess because of excessive parent control.

By speaking to some friends in their 30s I see that equipping your teenage sons and daughters' rooms with cameras is pretty normal...
I would have never tolerated having a camera constantly watching me in my room, especially in my teenage years...
And that goes beyond the obvious acts of "self pleasure" so characteristic of that age...

Parenting is slowly but surely being replaced with surveilling, and funny enough most times parents who employ most parent controls are actually the most absent parents.
Anyway kids shouldn't have smartphones...
 
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DeepIn2U

macrumors G5
May 30, 2002
12,899
6,909
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Pleased to see this come to the UK.

My daughter is 10 and so this comes at just the right time.

I’ve read so many terrible swollen member spams over AirDrop (think old school Bluetooth ear driving of messages) and the huge criminal cases of body shaming and coercion of getting young girls to show nudes and then either committing suicide from shame or bullied at school parents having to move for safety etc.

There is only so much two hard working and loving parents can do when your kids for 7.5hrs out of a day is in the care of teaches and moreso peer pressure influences!

If a teen girl is wearing press-on nails lipstick, and very body revealing clothes - as a father you GOTTA loosing it or have improved contacts security and have cops, school and other parents on speed dial at the ready, amongst other mesures.

Just remember roots need nourishment as our kids need love guidance and a strong foundation of trust in family and skepticism amongst others.
 

Jim Lahey

macrumors 68030
Apr 8, 2014
2,652
5,435
Today it’s nudity. Tomorrow it’s dictator-mocking memes. Then it’s battering rams and doors off hinges. People will laugh and scoff at such notions but history will be the judge. Anyone who thinks these private communications ‘safety’ scanning systems will never morph into something altogether different is naive in the extreme. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
 

dk001

macrumors demi-god
Oct 3, 2014
10,742
15,087
Sage, Lightning, and Mountains
If this was an installable app that a parent could then select the level of “bad”, lock it to “on”, and it applied across all apps on the device …

It is far short of that.
 
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JippaLippa

macrumors 68000
Jan 14, 2013
1,521
1,755
What the actual ****
Yeah, no joke.
There's this whole paranoia aboutsurveilling your children.
Pretty scary stuff...
It first starts with GPS things (like airtags), because sure...why be a responsible parent if you can have an airtag telling where your children are at any time! (Obvious sarcasm)
 
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ian87w

macrumors G3
Feb 22, 2020
8,704
12,636
Indonesia
I hope this is worldwide.
Why I am fine with this? Because it's opt in. You don't have to use it if you don want it, and it doesn't disable any basic functionalities if you opt out.

That is in contrast with the proposed mass scanning system where you have to sacrifice icloud Photos if you want to "opt out".
 

B4U

macrumors 68040
Oct 11, 2012
3,594
4,069
Undisclosed location
Good point made.
What is the point of this only for iMessage?
And what is there to stop them from scanning for something else next?
Would this be next?
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