Apple said in a statement that encryption is a “critical capability to protect the privacy of journalists, human rights activists and diplomats. The company urged the U.K. government to amend the bill to protect strong end-to-end encryption for the benefit of all. Apple also said encryption also helps ordinary citizens protect themselves from surveillance, identity theft, fraud and data breaches. The Online Security Bill poses a serious threat to such protections and could put British citizens at greater risk.

The BBC understands that a series of amendments are expected to be published soon that is expected to address the requirement to scan message content for CSAM.

Apple has attempted to introduce its own CSAM detection system for iCloud photos but has met with failure. Yet Apple continues to introduce new features within the context of communication security in iMessage that obscure potentially inappropriate images and provide resources to prevent the sharing of sensitive content. In iOS 17, Apple extended communications security to “AirDrop, the system-level photo selector, FaceTime messages, contact posters in the Phone app, and third-party apps.

Advertising Disclaimer: This article contains external jump links (including but not limited to hyperlinks, QR codes, passphrases, etc.) for the purpose of delivering more information and saving selection time, and the results are for informational purposes only.

The post Apple force CSAM scanning in iMessage, says it threatens user privacy appeared first on TechGoing.

It’s unclear why this isn’t in effect, but it may require other settings such as Security Keys to be enabled, or Apple may not have finished deploying the feature.

As previously reported, Apple announced iMessage Contact Key Authentication in December of last year to help iPhone users verify the identity of the person they are communicating with.

After activating iMessage Contact Key Authentication, users are only allowed to send and receive messages to and from contacts that have been authenticated by the owner. Users are alerted if a state-sponsored attacker or another malicious actor successfully compromises the cloud server and accesses their own device to eavesdrop on conversations.

With iMessage Contact Key Verification enabled users can request a Contact Verification Code match on FaceTime or other secure calls to further verify that they are only communicating with the people they want to.

The post Apple is about to launch iMessage Contact Key Authentication function appeared first on TechGoing.

The Digital Marketplace Act, approved by the European Council in July 2022 and set to enter into force on May 2, 2023, contains several provisions designed to prevent large technology companies from dominating the market and harming their competitors.

One of the most important changes in the EU’s recent revisions is a requirement for Apple to open up iMessage, a key selling point in Apple’s iPhone ecosystem that is particularly popular among younger demographics in the United States.

In the bill revised by the European Union institutions, messaging services such as iMessage, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are required to be open to realize the interoperability of messaging platforms, allowing users to exchange messages, send files or make video calls across messaging applications.

Apple engineers believe the change could compromise the end-to-end encryption and other privacy features offered by iMessage. Apple says it’s also not currently considering integrating RCS, a messaging protocol that Google and others are pushing Apple to adopt.

The post Effective May 2, new EU amendments make it mandatory for Apple to open iMessage appeared first on TechGoing.