WhatsApp lashes out at Apple
WhatsApp lashes out at Apple because they disagree again. But this time it is an important and sensitive subject.
child abuse. This is terrible and needs to be addressed. Everyone agrees on that. Apple came this week with new measures to prevent this. But these measures go a long way. Apple is going to scan iPhones to find out if things are happening that are not allowed.
whatsapp pulls out
Facebook owns WhatsApp. And Facebook is more often at odds with Apple. So now again. WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart said in a Twitter thread that his company would not take the security measures, calling Apple’s approach “very worrying.” According to Cathart, their system works much better. This system uses user reports and encryption and has led the company to report more than 400,000 cases to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2020. The way Apple is going to do it is way too far-reaching and users are losing privacy. So don’t!
Now, of course, is the time for Facebook to choose the attack. Apple’s changes to the way ad tracking works in iOS 14.5 sparked a battle between the two companies. With Facebook buying newspaper ads criticizing Apple’s privacy changes as harmful to small businesses. Apple fired back, saying the change “simply requires” users to be given a choice of whether they want to be tracked. Or not.
Experts
But Facebook is not alone this time. Experts consisting of academics, researchers and privacy experts have written a letter calling on us not to use this new technique. Apple’s technology affects the privacy of users. “Because the control is performed on the user’s device, the company could bypass all end-to-end encryption normally used to protect our privacy,” the experts write in the letter.
Apple has not yet responded to Facebook’s letter or allegations. The question is whether they even care.
