Aug 9 (Reuters) – Apple Inc (AAPL.O) on Monday said that iPhone users’ entire photo libraries will be checked for known child abuse images if they are stored in the online iCloud service.

The disclosure came in a series of media briefings in which Apple is seeking to dispel alarm over its announcement last week that it will scan users’ phones, tablets and computers for millions of illegal pictures.

While Google, Microsoft and other technology platforms check uploaded photos or emailed attachments against a database of identifiers provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other clearing houses, security experts faulted Apple’s plan as more invasive.

Apple’s system does not check videos before they are uploaded to the company’s cloud, but the company said it plans to expand its system in unspecified ways in the future.

Apple has come under international pressure for the low numbers of its reports of abuse material compared with other providers. Some European jurisdictions are debating legislation to hold platforms more accountable for the spread of such material.

Reporting by Joseph Menn and Stephen Nells in San Francisco;
Editing by Dan Grebler
The Reuters Trust Principles.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/
apple-says-photos-icloud-will-be-checked-by-child-abuse-
detection-system-2021-08-09/