https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/09/delays-arent-good-enough-apple-must-abandon-its-surveillance-plans Skip to main content * About + Contact + Press + People + Opportunities * Issues + Free Speech + Privacy + Creativity and Innovation + Transparency + International + Security * Our Work + Deeplinks Blog + Press Releases + Events + Legal Cases + Whitepapers * Take Action + Action Center + Electronic Frontier Alliance + Volunteer * Tools + Privacy Badger + HTTPS Everywhere + Surveillance Self-Defense + Certbot + Atlas of Surveillance + Cover Your Tracks + Crocodile Hunter * Donate + Donate to EFF + Shop + Other Ways to Give + Membership FAQ * Donate + Donate to EFF + Shop + Other Ways to Give * Search form Search [ ] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Email updates on news, actions, and events in your area. Join EFF Lists * Copyright (CC BY) * Trademark * Privacy Policy * Thanks Electronic Frontier Foundation Donate Electronic Frontier Foundation * About + Contact + Press + People + Opportunities * Issues + Free Speech + Privacy + Creativity and Innovation + Transparency + International + Security * Our Work + Deeplinks Blog + Press Releases + Events + Legal Cases + Whitepapers * Take Action + Action Center + Electronic Frontier Alliance + Volunteer * Tools + Privacy Badger + HTTPS Everywhere + Surveillance Self-Defense + Certbot + Atlas of Surveillance + Cover Your Tracks + Crocodile Hunter * Donate + Donate to EFF + Shop + Other Ways to Give + Membership FAQ * Donate + Donate to EFF + Shop + Other Ways to Give * Search form Search [ ] Delays Aren't Good Enough--Apple Must Abandon Its Surveillance Plans DEEPLINKS BLOG By Cindy Cohn September 3, 2021 apple with an eye in the center Delays Aren't Good Enough--Apple Must Abandon Its Surveillance Plans Share It Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Copy link apple with an eye in the center Apple announced today that it would "take additional time over the coming months to collect input and make improvements" to a program that will weaken privacy and security on iPhones and other products. EFF is pleased Apple is now listening to the concerns of customers, researchers, civil liberties organizations, human rights activists, LGBTQ people, youth representatives, and other groups, about the dangers posed by its phone scanning tools. But the company must go further than just listening, and drop its plans to put a backdoor into its encryption entirely. SIGN THE PETITION TELL APPLE: DON'T SCAN OUR PHONES The features Apple announced a month ago, intending to help protect children, would create an infrastructure that is all too easy to redirect to greater surveillance and censorship. These features would create an enormous danger to iPhone users' privacy and security, offering authoritarian governments a new mass surveillance system to spy on citizens. They also put already vulnerable kids at risk, especially LGBTQ youth, and create serious potential for danger to children in abusive households. The responses to Apple's plans have been damning: over 90 organizations across the globe have urged the company not to implement them, for fear that they would lead to the censoring of protected speech, threaten the privacy and security of people around the world, and have disastrous consequences for many children. This week, EFF's petition to Apple demanding they abandon their plans reached 25,000 signatures. This is in addition to other petitions by groups such as Fight for the Future and OpenMedia, totalling well over 50,000 signatures. The enormous coalition that has spoken out will continue to demand that user phones--both their messages and their photos--be protected, and that the company maintain its promise to provide real privacy to its users. Further Reading: * Apple's Plan to "Think Different" About Encryption Opens a Backdoor to Your Private Life * If You Build It, They Will Come: Apple Has Opened the Backdoor to Increased Surveillance and Censorship Around the World * How LGBTQ+ Content is Censored Under the Guise of "Sexually Explicit" * EFF Joins Global Coalition Asking Apple CEO Tim Cook to Stop Phone-Scanning * Apple's Plan to Scan Photos in Messages Turns Young People Into Privacy Pawns Related Issues Privacy Security Share It Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Copy link Join EFF Lists Join Our Newsletter! Email updates on news, actions, events in your area, and more. Email Address [ ] Postal Code (optional) [ ] Anti-spam question: Enter the three-letter abbreviation for Electronic Frontier Foundation: [ ] Don't fill out this field (required) [ ] [Submit] Thanks, you're awesome! Please check your email for a confirmation link. Oops something is broken right now, please try again later. Related Updates [eff-pr-og] Press Release | September 3, 2021 Video Briefing Wednesday: EFF and Partners Will Deliver to Apple Petitions with 50,000 Signatures Demanding End to Phone Scanning Program San Francisco--On Wednesday, September 8, at 9 am PT, internationally renowned security technologist Bruce Schneier and EFF Policy Analyst Joe Mullin will speak on a panel with digital rights activists delivering petitions with more than 50,000 signatures calling on Apple to cancel its iPhone surveillance software program. The briefing... [OG-AppleFBIKeys] Deeplinks Blog by Jason Kelley | September 1, 2021 25,000 EFF Supporters Have Told Apple Not To Scan Their Phones Over the weekend, our petition to Apple asking the company not to install surveillance software in every iPhone hit an important milestone: 25,000 signatures. We plan to deliver this petition to Apple soon; and the more individuals who sign, the more impact it will have. We are deeply grateful... apple with an eye in the center Deeplinks Blog by Jason Kelley | August 27, 2021 Apple's Plan to Scan Photos in Messages Turns Young People Into Privacy Pawns This month, Apple announced several new features under the auspices of expanding its protections for young people, at least two of which seriously walk back the company's longstanding commitment to protecting user privacy. One of the plans--scanning photos sent to and from child accounts in Messages--breaks Apple's promise to... [shotspotter] Deeplinks Blog by Matthew Guariglia, Adam Schwartz | August 24, 2021 Chicago Inspector General: Using ShotSpotter Does Not Justify Crime Fighting Utility ?The Chicago Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has released a highly critical report on the Chicago Police Department's use of ShotSpotter, a surveillance technology that relies on a combination of artificial intelligence and human "acoustic experts" to purportedly identify and locate gunshots based on a network of... [eff-pr-og] Press Release | August 23, 2021 ACLU Advocate Reining in Government Use of Face Surveillance, Champion of Privacy Rights Research, and Data Security Trainer Protecting Black Communities Named Recipients of EFF's Pioneer Award San Francisco--The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is honored to announce that Kade Crockford, Director of the Technology for Liberty Program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, Pam Dixon, executive director and founder of World Privacy Forum, and Matt Mitchell, founder of ... apple with an eye in the center Deeplinks Blog by Joe Mullin | August 19, 2021 EFF Joins Global Coalition Asking Apple CEO Tim Cook to Stop Phone-Scanning EFF has joined the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) and more than 90 other organizations to send a letter urging Apple CEO Tim Cook to stop the company's plans to weaken privacy and security on Apple's iPhones and other products. Have you signed the petition? apple with an eye in the center Deeplinks Blog by Joe Mullin | August 17, 2021 Speak Out Against Apple's Mass Surveillance Plans Mass surveillance is not an acceptable crime-fighting strategy, no matter how well-intentioned the spying. If you're upset about Apple's recent announcement that the next version of iOS will install surveillance software in every iPhone, we need you to speak out about it. Facebook Censorship Deeplinks Blog by Rory Mir, Cory Doctorow | August 12, 2021 Facebook's Attack on Research is Everyone's Problem Facebook recently banned the accounts of several New York University (NYU) researchers who run Ad Observer, an accountability project that tracks paid disinformation, from its platform. This has major implications: not just for transparency, but for user autonomy and the fight for interoperable software.Ad Observer is a free/open source... [sovereign-keys] Deeplinks Blog by Kurt Opsahl | August 11, 2021 If You Build It, They Will Come: Apple Has Opened the Backdoor to Increased Surveillance and Censorship Around the World Apple's new program for scanning images sent on iMessage steps back from the company's prior support for the privacy and security of encrypted messages. The program, initially limited to the United States, narrows the understanding of end-to-end encryption to allow for client-side scanning. While Apple aims at... [OG-AppleFBIKeys] Deeplinks Blog by India McKinney, Erica Portnoy | August 5, 2021 Apple's Plan to "Think Different" About Encryption Opens a Backdoor to Your Private Life Apple has announced impending changes to its operating systems that include new "protections for children" features in iCloud and iMessage. If you've spent any time following the Crypto Wars, you know what this means: Apple is planning to build a backdoor into its data storage system and its messaging system. 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