Episode 16 of the In the News podcast is now available. Our main topic is that this week marked the 10-year anniversary of Steve Jobs stepping down from Apple, a bittersweet moment, and Tim Cook taking over, which has been an incredible success. We also speculate on what product might eventually replace the iPhone and then discuss ways to improve the Wi-Fi in your home.
In this week’s In the News segment, Brett shares some tips for making it easier to use the Shazam app on your iPhone to identify a song when you hear it playing. I recommend a tip for using Apple’s HomeKit technology to improve the security of device in your home connected to the Internet so that you don’t find yourself in a similar situation as this casino, which was compromised after hackers exploited a security vulnerability in a fish tank to gain access to casino’s entire network.
August 24, 2021, was the 10-year anniversary of Steve Jobs announcing that he was stepping down as CEO of Apple due to his health issues. In that announcement (which I posted in full in this post), Jobs recommended that Tim Cook take over as CEO, which is of course what happened. (Jobs passed away a few months later, on October 5, 2011.) Parker Ortolani of 9to5Mac wrote a very good article looking back at that announcement 10 years ago and the reaction from the Apple community. At the time, it was well known that Jobs was having health problems, but I remember that it was still a shock to learn that the person that we all associated with Apple was stepping down. That anniversary means that Tim Cook has now been the CEO of Apple for 10 years. Austin Carr and Mark Gurman of Bloomberg Businessweek wrote a good article about the incredible financial success that Apple has seen with Cook as CEO and also discuss how Cook’s “unflappable temperament makes him well suited to the polarized political climate” in the United States. And Matthew Drummond of the Australian Financial Review interviews Apple CEO Tim Cook. For those who do not subscribe to that publication, Ben Lovejoy of 9to5Mac provides some of the highlights. For example, Cook explains that he likes to start his workday at 4am because the early morning is the one time of the day that he can control, before things start to happen that “blow you off course.” Folks might disagree with Cook on some specific decisions that he has made over the past decade. For example, I know that some people were upset about his frequent meetings with President Trump, but Cook decided that it was more important to work with the leader of the government even though Cook openly disagreed with many of Trump’s policies. And just a few days ago, Cook attended a cybersecurity summit to meet with President Biden. But what I think that everyone would agree with is that Cook helped Apple to become the most successful company in the world. At the same time, much more than the Apple run by Jobs, the Apple run by Cook has promoted important values like diversity and privacy. It is hard to imagine that anyone else would have done as good of a job over the past decade as Tim Cook. Tim Cook and Steve Jobs are very different types of people, but Apple was lucky to have the opportunity to transition to Cook after Jobs. And now, the news of note from the past week:
The Windows 365 Cloud PC is a virtual PC that you can access and run from pretty much any device, including an iPad or a Mac, if you pay a monthly fee. If you want to use Apple devices but you have one or two things that need to run on a PC, this is a possible solution. California attorney David Sparks tested Windows 365, and while he hasn’t yet written about the experience on his MacSparky website, he did talk about it during the most recent episode of the Mac Power User podcast, starting around the 39-minute mark.
Last week, on Episode 15 of the In the News podcast, Brett Burney recommended a new recipe app called Mela based on a review by Illinois attorney John Voorhees on MacStories. I’m mentioning it today just so that you have the link handy. It looks like a good app.
As noted above, President Biden met with Tim Cook and other CEOs at a cybersecurity summit on Wednesday. Cat Zakrzewski, Joseph Marks, and Jay Greene of the Washington Post reported on the meeting, noting that several companies used the meeting as an opportunity to announce new cybersecurity initiatives. For example, “Apple said it would start a new program to ensure the security of its supply chain, by requiring its more than 9,000 U.S. suppliers to adopt practices such as security training.”
In many parts of the country (including New Orleans, where I live), you can currently dial a local number using seven digits, such as 555-5555. Adam Engst of TidBITS reports that in many parts of the United States you will soon need to use all ten digits — 504-555-5555 – even when making local calls. This change goes into effect on October 24, 2021, because 988 will become a nationwide 3-digit suicide prevention number next year, but that wouldnt’t work in areas with phone numbers beginning with 988 unless everyone uses all ten digits to dial. Note that this means that if you have contacts in your iPhone for which you have only stored a seven-digit number, you need to change that to a ten digit number before October 24, 2021.
If you are a fan of musicals, especially the classics, then you should watch Schmigadoon! on Apple TV+. It’s a fun, silly show with fantastic music. Every song leaves you thinking “wait, that reminds me of another song from that famous musical,” and Chris Murphy of Vanity Fair explains all of the musical references in all six episodes of the first season of this series.
If you are thinking of subscribing to Apple TV+, Jason Cross of Macworld has a good article with all of the key information about the Apple TV+ service. For example, I didn’t realize before reading this article that Apple TV+ has the best 4K streaming quality of any streaming service.
If you are looking to improve the Wi-Fi in your home, Glenn Fleishman wrote an article for TidBITS to explain all of your options. I’m a huge fan of the eero Pro 3-pack that I reviewed last year, and I subsequently updated that article to address the newer eero Pro 6, which can provide even better Wi-Fi in certain situations. Improving Wi-Fi makes your iPhone, iPad, and computers much more useful, so if you are still using the Wi-Fi system that you installed many years ago, consider an upgrade.
There was a time before the iPhone, and there will, eventually, be a time after the iPhone. What will be the hot Apple product when that day comes? In an article for Macworld, Dan Moren has three predictions.
Zac Hall of 9to5Mac says that the $549 AirPods Max is expensive but worth it. I tried out a pair the last time I was in an Apple Store, and they felt and worked great. I could definitely see myself enjoying them, but I don’t see how I could justify that price, especially considering that I already have, and love, my pair of AirPods Pro.
Hiwatha Bray of the Boston Globe tells the tale of Dan Pfau, a man whose life has been saved not once, but twice, because he was wearing an Apple Watch. Two years ago, he fell off of a bike and was knocked unconscious, but his watch called 911 and he was brought to the ER. Last month, he fainted, hit his head, and started bleeding, but fortunately he was conscious enough to use his Apple Watch to text his wife to call for help.
I presume that in just a few weeks, iOS 15 will be available. When it comes out, I’ll be circling back to articles like this one from Jason Cross of Macworld in which he identifies some useful but less obvious features of iOS 15.
And finally, here is a new video from Apple providing tips on using an iPhone to take really good pictures of pets. The video shares some good tips for using the Camera app. But frankly, you may just enjoy watching it just to see lots of great pictures of dogs and cats.
Episode 15 of the In the News podcast is now available. After a short public service announcement (a warning to T-Mobile customers about a recent large data breach), Brett and I begin by discussing the use of the Find My app, AirTags, and the Apple Watch to protect yourself from thieves and burglars, as well as a recent case in New York in which the thieves themselves used this technology to steal from other criminals. Next, we discussed using Spatial Audio with videos to create a more immersive experience. After briefly discussing a new Apple Arcade game called Wurdweb, we then discuss the excellent PDF Expert app, including the update that I described a few days ago, and we also discuss a recipe app called Mela.
In this week’s In the Know segment, we provide tips related to photos and videos. Brett shares a tip for using shared albums on an iPhone so that multiple friends and family members can easily share pictures or videos that they take during a shared experience like a vacation. I recommend a product sold by Studio Neat, the Glif ($28 on Amazon), along with the excellent Hand Grip + Wrist Strap attachment (my review). When you want to record a video for more than a minute or two — such as when filming your child in a school performance, an athletic event, etc. — the Hand Grip with the Glif makes it so much easier to record with an iPhone for an extended period of time.
I often mention stories of folks using the Find My app to catch a thief. For example, here is a story from AppleInsider this week about a man in Washington using Find My and an AirTag to find his stolen motorcycle. But Find My can also be used by thieves. Ben Feuerherd of the New York Post reports that a group of robbers in New York attached an Apple Watch to the bumper of a drug dealer’s car so that they could use Find My to follow him to a stash of $500,000. But just as technology was essential to their heist, it also led to their downfall. The robbers were subsequently captured, and the prosecutor stated that his criminal charges were “supported by detailed cellsite location data, including [from] his Apple Watch and the phones of the defendant.” Click here for more details, including a picture of the robbers striking a pose in front of all of the money that they stole, taken not long before they were caught. And now, the news of note from the past week:
If you use T-Mobile in the United States, you should know that this week T-Mobile confirmed a major data breach. Hackers were able to access full names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and more, and this information is now showing up online. Ugh. Chris Velazco of the Washington Post has information on the breach and what you can do now to protect yourself.
Two months ago, I described a large number of new features coming to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15. But one feature that I chose not to mention is SharePlay, a new technology that lets different people in different locations watch media at the same time. For example, two people in different cities can watch a movie and have the movie synced so that they can see the movie simultaneously, almost like they are in the same room. It’s an interesting idea, especially during a pandemic, but I didn’t find it as compelling as the other new features coming this Fall. I mention it now only because Apple is now delaying this feature, and as Jason Snell explains in an article for Macworld, that is a good thing because it is far worse when Apple ships a feature prematurely.
A feature coming to iOS 15 that I am very much looking forward to is Live Text, which allows the iPhone to read text in a photo. Dan Moren of Six Colors discusses this new feature.
Apple has been able to develop some impressive new hardware and software even though almost all of its employees (outside of the Apple Stores) have been working from home during the pandemic. And I’m glad that there is such a good track record because, as reported by Zoe Schiffer of The Verge, the recent COVID-19 surge caused Apple to announce yesterday that its employees will continue to work from home until at least January 2022.
Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal posted an excellent video interview with Apple software chief Craig Federighi to discuss Apple’s upcoming child protection features.
Nicholas Katzban of NorthJersey.com reports that after a burglar handcuffed a 20-year-old woman to her bed, she was able to use her Apple Watch to call for help.
If you use the HBO Max app on an Apple TV or other device, you know that it doesn’t always work very well. Fortunately, relief should be coming in the next few months. Josef Adalian of Vulture reports that WarnerMedia has been working on a brand new version of the app and it is coming out soon. The new Roku and PlayStation apps will be out first, the Apple TV app will be out by the end of 2021, a new mobile and web-based apps will be out in early 2022.
I love watching a movie or TV show on my iPad when a service supports spatial audio. The sound seems fuller and seems to come from the direction of the iPad — so much so that I am often tricked into thinking that my AirPods are not working and the sound is actually coming from the iPad. John Gruber of Daring Fireball notes that, as reported by Juli Clover, Spatial Audio is coming to the Netflix app. I agree with Gruber that Spatial Audio can be “a game changer for degree of immersiveness.”
An upcoming series on Showtime called Super Pumped focuses on the rise in popularity of Uber. Rob Latour of Variety reports that Hank Azaria will play Apple CEO Tim Cook on the show.
And finally, there is a fantastic new movie on Apple TV+ called CODA, and I strongly recommend that you watch it. It is a story about a teenager who wants to sing, but everyone else in her family is deaf so they have trouble understanding her passion. It is funny, touching, and features incredible acting. And it won all of the top awards at Sundance. Here is a video released by Apple that features part of one of the songs:
PDF Expert, my go-to app for working with PDF files on my iPad, was updated to add what the developer Readdle is calling construction tools. And while I'm sure that these tools would be useful for contractors and architects, I can see lots of uses for these tools whenever an attorney works with floor plans, schematics, designs, aerial photographs, and many other exhibits. You need to pay for a PDF Expert PRO subscription to get access to these tools ($50/year), but I already considered that a bargain for my law practice for reasons that I have previously described, and now the subscription is even more valuable.
Measurement tools
The first new set of tools are useful for determining rough measurements. Any time that you are working with a drawing that has a scale, PDF Expert can now perform measurements. Start by finding two points in the drawing for which you already know the distance. Perhaps the drawing already tells you in feet and inches the length of a wall or something like that. Or perhaps the drawing has a scale at the bottom. Use the new Calibrate tool to put a point at both ends and then tell the app what that distance represents. And for some images for there is a scale, PDF Expert will intelligently detect the scale.
Once you have set the scale, you can then use the distance tool to measure the distance between any two points. For example, here is a public domain floor plan of the U.S. Capitol, which has a scale at the bottom. Using the measure tool, the app estimates that the diameter of the Great Rotunda is 96" 1.5" — and according to the U.S. Capitol visitor center, the actual diameter is 96" so that is a pretty good guess just based on this image.
You can also calculate the area by selecting three or more points. For example, in the following image, I compare the area of the floor portion of the Senate Chamber to the Hall of the House of Representatives.
Obviously, you cannot count on these measurements to be exact, although I suspect that with high-resolution PDF files that are drawn exactly to scale, you might be able to get pretty close. But I've had many times during litigation when I needed to estimate the length of a wall or the area of a room or a warehouse or a parking lot and this is a tool that help to perform some quick-and-dirty calculations.
Create shapes
PDF Expert already had tools that you could use to create rectangles, circles, lines, and arrows. This update adds many new tools. With the new polygon and polyline tools, you can create countless different shapes with straight edges. You can fill your shapes with colors or hash patterns and you can change the border type and size. And you can even create a cloud shape to draw more attention to an area.
Callout tool
Often, when I'm working with an exhibit, I will want to draw a line to something important and then say something in the margins about what it is or why it is important. This is easy to do with the new callout tool. Just tap a point on the image, keep your finger on the screen as you drag, and then release your finger where you want the callout text to go. The keyboard pops up for you to type something, and then you are done. The process is quick and easy.
And just like any other shape, once you place a callout, you can adjust the color, size, etc.
Conclusion
I've worked on cases where I have spent thousands of dollars on graphics professionals to help me to create demonstrative exhibits. The good ones have lots of tools, experience, and creativity. But often, tools like these in PDF Expert may be all that you need. Take a satellite image, design plan, etc., add some shapes and callouts on it, and then you may have the perfect demonstrative exhibit to get your point across. I love that my PRO subscription is even more valuable thanks to these new features. And if you haven't yet made the jump from the free version of PDF Expert to the PRO subscription version, now you have another reason to consider doing so.
Finally, a couldn't help but notice that in the blog post announcing these new features, Readdle states: "This update is our first step towards creating unique experiences and tools tailored for professional segments like lawyers, teachers, doctors, and more." I look forward to seeing more useful tools in PDF Expert in the future, including tools specifically designed for lawyers.
Episode 14 of the In the News podcast is now available. Brett and I begin by discussing issues related to privacy and protection, which are sometimes competing interests, such as Apple’s new child protection initiatives, AirTags, and COVID passport apps that you can use to prove that you are vaccinated. Next, we discuss why we disagree with those who suggest that the Apple TV is pointless. Then, we discuss the excellent review of the Apple MagSafe battery pack written by California attorney David Sparks.
In this week’s In the Know segment, Brett shares a tip for quickly selecting multiple items in a list on an iPhone or iPad, such as selecting a bunch of emails at once. I recommend the fastest ways to launch the Camera app on the iPhone so that you can quickly take a picture to preserve a memory of a moment before it is gone.
Last week, I discussed iPhone apps that you can use to prove that you are vaccinated, such as the LA Wallet app in Louisiana. If you plan to come to New Orleans, make sure that you have one of those apps on your iPhone or some other proof of vaccination. As reported by Ben Myers of the Times-Picayune, starting this Monday, you will need to show proof of vaccination (or a very recent negative COVID-19 test) to stay inside at numerous establishments including restaurants, bars, the Superdome, gyms, music halls, casinos, pool halls, arcades, etc. This follows the recent news that Jazz Fest 2021, which had been rescheduled for October, is now canceled due to COVID. I hate that it has come to this, especially since things were looking better before the Delta variant, and the vaccination rates for folks who live in New Orleans is much better than many places. But vaccination rates in the rest of Louisiana are dismal, local hospitals are at their limits with “no plateau in sight,” and New Orleans Mayor Cantrell reported yesterday that “most of the people hospitalized in New Orleans with COVID-19 are from outside the city.” New Orleans has always been a fantastic city for tourists, and showing off the Crescent City to friends who are visiting has long been one of my favorite activities. But given the current state, I recommend that you wait until next year to do that. In the meantime, there is an urgent need to convince everyone to get vaccinated so that we can all have a better 2022. And now, the news of note from the past week:
The TranscriptPad app was updated this week to add the ability to speak. The app has long had a function where you can press a button and have the transcript automatically scroll as you review it, a mode that I have used quite a bit. You can now have the app read the transcript out loud as it does so, with different voices for the questions and answers. I tried it out, and it works very well. I don’t see myself using this feature often, but I can imagine a circumstance in which I decide to review the key portions of a transcript by having my iPad read to me from a deposition transcript as I am doing something else around my house. Click here for more information on this new feature.
California attorney David Sparks of MacSparky reviews the Apple MagSafe Battery Pack. He explains why the device is worth using, even though it is more expensive than alternatives, because it works better.
Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories describes the improvements coming to the built-in Maps app on the iPhone and iPad this Fall. There is a new interface, detailed 3D models of certain landmarks, augmented reality walking directions, weather alerts, tips for when to leave to account for traffic conditions, and more.
Dan Guido is the CEO of a cybersecurity company in New York City. He uses an electric scooter, and to try to find it if it was ever stolen, he hid two AirTags inside of it. Sure enough, the scooter was stolen this week, but he was able to recover it with the aid of the police. He wrote a fascinating description of the entire experience in this series of tweets. This is great reading, and great advice, for anyone who owns AirTags or is considering owning them because he made numerous smart decisions at different points in the process.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball explains some of the reasons that an Apple TV is a better device than the much cheaper alternatives that offer similar functions. I agree with all of this.
If you are thinking of using an Apple TV to stream all of your TV channels instead of paying for cable or satellite TV, Jason Snell of Six Colors recommends Suppose. You tell the website where you live and what channels you want to have included, and the website recommends the best packages for you.
Speaking of streaming video, you know how sometimes you are watching a show and the characters in a show find themselves watching a fake TV show or movie — for example, the show 30 Rock had a bit about a movie called The Rural Juror, and The Simpsons has featured an action movie called McBain? The website Nestflix.fun collects tons of these shows-within-a-show and demonstrates what it would look like if all of these fake shows were available on a streaming service. A lot of work went into this website, and I found it great fun to browse. Perhaps you will too.
Benjamin Mayo of 9to5Mac reports that you can now download a free Ted Lasso sticker pack for iMessage and the Clips app.
Filipe Espósito of 9to5Mac notes that you can now save hundreds of dollars on the 2020 models of the iPad Pro by purchasing from Apple’s Refurbished Store. These models are not quite as fast as the 2021 iPad Pro models, and the 2020 12.9″ model doesn’t feature the new mini-LED screen that I described in this review, but the 2020 models are still excellent devices, especially at these prices.
Last month, I discussed the Pegasus software sold by NSO Group by governments that can be used to hack into an iPhone — software designed to be used against criminals, but some governments used them against others including reporters and human rights activists. Were you targeted by the Pegasus software? The odds of that happening are quite low, but if you want to find out, Jason Cipriani of CNet explains how you can run a test using the iMazing software on a Mac or PC — software that can also be used to create more sophisticated backups of an iPhone.
And finally, to promote the new Spatial Audio feature in Apple Music, Apple teamed up with Billie Eilish to produce this short video. Put on your headphones while you watch this video, which uses multiple reflections in mirrors to simulate visually the surround sound that you are hearing:
Last week, Apple announced three initiatives to protect children from sexual abuse. At least two of them have privacy implications, which has led some, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), to oppose Apple’s actions. Additionally, many folks raised good questions, which led Apple to release a Frequently Asked Questions (PDF link) a few days later to provide more detailed information. This is a complicated issue, and reasonable minds can differ on whether Apple is doing the right thing. Here is what you should know.
Siri and Search
Let’s start with the least controversial new initiative. Apple is updating Siri and Search to provide parents and children with information about unsafe situations related to CSAM. CSAM stands for Child Sexual Abuse Material. People used to simply call this “child pornography,” but “CSAM” has been increasingly used in the last 20 years to emphasize that the key is not that this information is pornographic but instead that it is evidence of child sexual abuse. With this initiative, people will be able to ask Siri about how to report child exploitation, and Siri will point to helpful resources.
These improvements seem like an obviously good idea. They will be part of an update to Apple’s operating systems later this year. Of course, if this was the only change, I wouldn’t be writing a blog post about this topic. It gets more complicated.
Sexually explicit photos in Messages
The second initiative takes place in the Messages app and is based on technology that Apple developed for the Photos app. The Photos app already has the ability to look at the images on your device and try to understand what is in the image using artificial intelligence (AI). For example, if you take a picture of your dog, your iPhone will often understand that there is a dog in the picture. Use the Search feature in the Photos app to search for “dog” and the iPhone (or iPad or Mac) will show you pictures that the iPhone thinks contain a picture of a dog, even if you yourself never tagged the picture as containing a dog. To ensure privacy, your pictures are analyzed on your device — not on some Apple server — so the AI occurs without Apple seeing your photos. As this feature has improved over time, there is now a big and growing list of words that you can use to search in the Photos app.
Later this year, Apple will add the ability for your iPhone (and iPad and Mac) to tell that there is sexually explicit content in a photograph. Apple has not defined what it means by “sexually explicit” content. For example, is it all nudity or something else? And of course, not all nudity is CSAM. It may not include a child at all. Or it may include a child in a context that is not abusive, such as a parent’s picture of his or her child in a bathtub.
But whatever it is that this AI can search for when it looks for sexually explicit content, it only occurs in a very specific context. Unlike the “dog” example I noted above, this does not occur at all in the Photos app. It only occurs in the Messages app. And it doesn’t occur all the time in the Messages app, but instead only if you turn it on. And even then, it can only be turned on in a very specific circumstance: when you have an account configured as a family in iCloud and when there are children — people under the age of 18 — on the account.
If you are a parent and you have an iCloud family account, then this Fall, you will be able to turn on a new communications safety feature in Messages for the children in your family. The system works in two different ways.
First, a parent can turn on this feature for a child account that is age 12 or younger. With this function turned on, if the Messages app on the child’s device receives or tries to send a sexually explicit image, then the image will initially be blurred or otherwise obscured.
Before the child can view the message, the child will see a warning message. In the example provided by Apple, the message was written in terms that are appropriate for and understandable by a child. For example, it explains that the image shows “private body parts that you cover with bathing suits.” Additionally, parents have the option to turn on parental notifications so that if the 12-or-under child decides to look at the image notwithstanding the warning, the parent will be alerted. My understanding is that the parent will also see the picture in question. The child is told that an alert will go to their parents:
If a child is a teenager — age 13 to age 17 — then the system works the same except that there is no option for parental notification. A parent can still turn on the feature so that the teen receives the warning, but if the teen decides to look at the picture anyway, the parent will not be alerted.
Why is there no parental alert feature for teens? Privacy. For example, the type of sexually explicit image that a teenager is viewing may reveal private information about the teenager, such as if the teenager is exploring their own sexual orientation. For some families, revealing that information to a parent may actually result in a negative reaction such as, in some cases, child abuse by the parent.
Because this AI all takes place in the Messages app on the device, Apple itself does not get access to the messages or images. Apple is never alerted — only the parent(s). As Apple says in its FAQ: “None of the communications, image evaluations, interventions, or notifications are available to Apple.” Moreover, this feature does not change the end-to-end encryption in Messages.
CSAM detection
The third new initiative is CSAM detection. This feature has nothing to do with the AI feature that I just described, and it works in a completely different fashion.
To try to combat child abuse in the United States, in 1984, the federal government established and continues to fund a private, non-profit organization called the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). NCMEC serves as the national clearinghouse and to provide a coordinated, national response to problems relating to missing and exploited children. NCMEC is one of the few entities in the United States that has legal permission to store a collection of CSAM.
Using incredibly sophisticated technology called NeuralHash, NCMEC has systems that analyze each instance of CSAM and create a unique CSAM hash. In other words, each picture in NCMEC’s CSAM database is associated with a single unique CSAM hash. NeuralHash is sophisticated enough that the hash remains the same even if the image is cropped or altered in minor ways using common techniques, such as changing a color image to black and white. Apple has developed software for your iPhone that can similarly analyze a picture and determine its hash. If the hash associated with the image on your iPhone matches the CSAM hash provided by NCMEC, then there is an incredibly high likelihood that the image on your iPhone is CSAM.
When Apple unveils its CSAM detection feature this Fall, all iPhones will have the ability to analyze images stored in the Photos app and determine the hashes. Also, all iPhones will contain a list of the CSAM hashes provided by NCMEC. If you choose not to use iCloud to upload your images to Apple’s server, then no CSAM detection takes place. But if you do choose to do so — such as to backup your iPhone, or to use iCloud photo sharing so that the same image appears on your iPad, Mac, etc. — then Apple will first determine whether each image matches a NCMEC CSAM hash. If yes, then a red flag goes up. And if a certain number of red flags go up — Apple hasn’t revealed what that number is — then Apple gets a notification that you appear to be uploading CSAM images to iCloud. [UPDATE 8/13/2021: Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal interviewed Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi, and he stated that the number is around 30.] Apple says that the risk of this notification being a false positive is only 1 in 1 trillion.
When this notification goes to Apple, Apple next performs a manual review. An Apple employee is provided with a low-resolution version of the images sought to be uploaded to iCloud so that those images can be compared with a low-resolution version of the NCMEC CSAM images. If that employee confirms that there is a positive match, then Apple sends a report to NCMEC and disables the user’s account. The person is notified and can appeal to have their account reinstated. I presume that NCMEC, upon agreeing that there is a match, alerts the appropriate law enforcement authorities.
Unlike the Messages system that can be turned on for those under the age of 18 that I described above, the CSAM detection system never performs its own analysis of the pictures on your iPhone. Thus, to use the example I gave above, if you take a picture of your child in the bathtub, that will not trigger this system. This system is triggered only for images that are already in the NCMEC database, and the analysis occurs on your iPhone — not based on the content of an image as determined by AI but instead based on the hash that is associated with the image.
The controversy
I’ve seen people both praise and criticize these new initiatives. On all sides of the issue, I’ve heard reasonable arguments.
Some folks believe that what Apple is doing doesn’t go far enough. These new initiatives are focused on two apps: Photos, and only when iCloud uploading is turned on, and Messages, and only for children when their parents turn on the feature. Thus, Apple isn’t doing anything about images that you view on the Internet using Safari, images that children send or receive using an app other than Messages, photos stored in an app other than Photos, etc. If Apple wanted to do more, they certainly could. The problem, of course, is that these additional efforts would erode legitimate privacy concerns.
Some folks believe that what Apple is doing goes too far. First, I have heard concerns about false positives. For the CSAM detection feature, it seems to me that Apple has done a lot to vastly reduce the risk of false positives. For the AI detection in Messages for children, nobody outside of Apple knows how well it works.
Second, I’ve heard concerns about teen privacy, arguments that a 17-year old ought to be able to send or receive consensual nude images without receiving warnings, even if their parents want to turn on that feature.
The most common complaint that I’ve heard is the slippery slope argument. Once Apple has a system in place in the United States for using CSAM hashes provided by NCMEC, will they do the same in other countries, including more authoritarian countries? What if that country’s database includes not only CSAM but other images that the government finds objectionable, such as the famous picture of the man standing in front of the tank in Tiananmen Square in 1989, an image censored by the government in China? Could a country opposed to the rights of those in the LGBTQ+ community exploit this technology? Could an oppressive regime force Apple to flag pictures of human rights activists?
Apple’s has a simple answer to that concern: it has refused similar efforts in the past, and it will continue to say no in the future. Here is what Apple says in the FAQ:
Could governments force Apple to add non-CSAM images to the hash list?
Apple will refuse any such demands. Apple’s CSAM detection capability is built solely to detect known CSAM images stored in iCloud Photos that have been identified by experts at NCMEC and other child safety groups. We have faced demands to build and deploy government-mandated changes that degrade the privacy of users before, and have steadfastly refused those demands. We will continue to refuse them in the future. Let us be clear, this technology is limited to detecting CSAM stored in iCloud and we will not accede to any government’s request to expand it. Furthermore, Apple conducts human review before making a report to NCMEC. In a case where the system flags photos that do not match known CSAM images, the account would not be disabled and no report would be filed to NCMEC.
[UPDATE 8/13/2021: In another Wall Street Journal article by Joanna Stern and Tim Higgins, Federighi stated that the database of images that Apple is working with comes not just from NCMEC but also from other child-safety organization, including two that are in “distinct jurisdictions,” which I presume means countries outside of the United States. Federighi also pointed out that auditors will be able to verify that the database consists of only images provided by those entities.]
So ultimately it all comes down to trust. Do you trust Apple to live up to its promise? And if there is a country that makes it illegal or otherwise impossible for Apple to say no even when Apple wants to do so, will Apple leave that country so that it can keep its promise?
In an article for Macworld, Jason Snell provides an excellent overview and then concludes that he is concerned. “Even if Apple’s heart is in the right place, my confidence that its philosophy will be able to withstand the future desires of law enforcement agencies and authoritarian governments is not as high as I want it to be. We can all be against CSAM and admire the clever way Apple has tried to balance these two conflicting needs, while still being worried about what it means for the future.”
I respect that opinion and the concerns of others who don’t think that Apple can keep its promise, but based on the research and analysis I have done so far, I disagree. In fact, I don’t think that this new CSAM detection feature is much of a step forward on a slippery slope. Any government already has the ability to create laws about what Apple and every other company operating in that country can do. For some laws, Apple and other companies have chosen to comply after performing a risk-benefit analysis. But for other laws and requirements, I believe that Apple and other companies would say no or would leave — and the risk of them leaving and the associated economic impact in that country would, hopefully, convince such a government in that country to back down. In China, for example, the country has a very different view on human rights than democratic regimes, but the country sees a big economic benefit from Apple producing iPhones in China. In other countries, there are many fans of Apple products, and they may help cooler minds to prevail. I’m not saying that any of this is easy, but I just don’t think that it is anything new. These thorny issues have existed and will continue to exist, regardless of Apple’s new features. I don’t consider this a reason for Apple to avoid doing something good about CSAM while implementing it in a way that respects privacy.
Additionally, providing information to NCMEC is nothing new. As the NCMEC website explains, electronic service providers in the United States — companies like Apple, Facebook, and Google — are not required by federal law to search for CSAM, but if they become aware of it on their systems, they are required to report it to NCMEC. See 18 USC § 2258A. Over 1,400 companies are currently registered with NCMEC to make these reports. According to NCMEC (PDF report), in the year 2020, Facebook made 20,307,216 of these reports, Google made 546,704, and Apple made only 265. I’m sure that Apple made so few because it hasn’t tried to find them in the past, so those 265 cases are probably cases in which U.S. law enforcement first reached out to Apple during an investigation. Facebook, on the other hand, is providing a huge number of images to NCMEC, and unlike Apple, they haven’t done so in a way that images are analyzed on your own device instead of their server to protect the privacy of images that do not match a NCMEC hash.
Moreover, by implementing this system now, Apple will have a way in the future to expand the encryption of information stored on its servers without people being able to complain that Apple’s encryption makes it impossible to tell if Apple is hosting CSAM. With this system, Apple has a way to check images before they are uploaded without Apple itself actually looking at the content in any of your images. Yes, it does mean that we have to trust Apple not to fall down a slippery slope, but that is nothing new. Any time you decide to involve another person, organization, or company in your life, you are making a decision based upon how much you trust them.
These are not easy issues. Apple and other technology companies are bound to make mistakes, and hopefully they will learn from those mistakes and evolve over time. As they do so, they will face criticism from folks saying they have gone too far and from folks saying they have not gone far enough. Every customer can decide whether they can live with the decisions that Apple and others have made — and if not, they can take their business elsewhere. Hopefully, this post helps you to make your own decisions when these features are implemented in a few months.
Episode 13 of the In the News podcast is now available. After a quick discussion of some Steve Jobs news, we then focus on some of the new features coming out this Fall when Apple updates the operating system for the iPhone, iPad, etc. One of those is the new Quick Notes feature on the iPad (and Mac), which will make it even easier to use the iPad as a tool for research. We also discuss significant improvements to the Find My app on the iPhone/iPad, which make will make it much easier to locate friends/family and items such as a lost iPhone or AirPods. We then discuss improvements to the AirPods Pro software that will be useful to folks who can use some assistance with hearing. We also briefly discuss a profile of Brian Mueller (the developer of CARROT Weather) and iPhone video tips.
Finally, in our In the Know segment, Brett offers recommendations for using the Live Photos features on the iPhone. I offer tips for getting more out of the built-in Notes app on the iPhone and iPad, including lots of ideas for information that you might want to store in Notes. (If any of you have other good ideas for categories of information that work great when stored in the Notes app, let me know!)
I never thought of Apple’s AirTags as a tool for social justice, but this occurred to Portland lawyer Michael Fuller, who runs what he calls the Underdog Law Office and also practices at OlsenDaines. Zane Sparling of the Portland Tribune reports that Fuller was trying to help the homeless who stay at a campsite in a park. Under Oregon law, when the city cleans up homeless encampments, it is required to retain for 30 days any collected property that is recognizable as belonging to a person and having an apparent use so that it can be retrieved, but according to Fuller, the city wasn’t doing so. To prove this, he placed AirTags in certain property. After the sweep, he tracked the AirTags and learned that the property was brought directly to a dump. The article quotes Fuller as saying: “Due to the tracking technology, we have proof positive that Rapid Response broke the law and took property that was perfectly clean and sanitary, and belonged to homeless people, and took them to the dump.” Joe English of KATU has a similar article, and he reports that Fuller had previously filed a class action against the City of Portland, and he used 16 AirTags during a subsequent sweep to gather more evidence. This is certainly a clever way to use AirTags. And now, the news of note from the past week:
Illinois attorney John Voorhees of MacStories discusses the new Quick Note feature, coming in iPad OS 15 this Fall, and how it makes it easier to do research with an iPad.
Currently, if you take a picture with your iPhone’s camera and there is a light source (the sun, a street light, etc.) off to the side, you will sometimes see lens flare on the other side of the picture, sometimes in the form of a small slightly green circle. Michael Simon of Macworld reports that when iOS 15 comes out this Fall, it will use AI image processing to remove the lens flare.
Killian Bell of Cult of Mac describes an interesting feature coming to the AirPods Pro this Fall for anyone who could use a little assistance with hearing. The new Conversation Boost feature boosts the volume of a person when they are talking in front of you, making it easier to hear and follow along in a face-to-face conversation.
Another feature coming this Fall to AirPods as well as CarPlay is an Announce Notifications feature. Michael Potuck of 9to5Mac explains how it works.
The Find My app is also improved in iOS 15. Juli Clover of MacRumors explains what is new.
Jack Nicas of the New York Times reports that the iPhone will gain the ability this Fall to recognize certain child pornography uploaded to iCloud and recognize certain nude photographs shared via Messages by an iPhone user under 13 years old. Jason Cross of Macworld provides additional details on how it works. The EFF is concerned that this technology could open the door to future privacy abuses.
If you have been watching the Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso — and you should be! — and you live in California, José Adorno of 9to5Mac reports that there is a Ted Lasso Believe Experience in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. You can get Ted Lasso merchandise, have biscuits with the boss, take pictures with photo installations, and more.
Watching a Broadway musical on TV is not the same as being there live, but it is certainly better than not being there at all. And when done well — such as the Hamilton movie — it can be quite good. Come From Away is an excellent musical that I enjoyed when the tour came to New Orleans two years ago. It is based on a true story: after 9/11, planes were forced to land at nearby airports leaving some folks far from their homes for a long period of time. According to Greg Evans of Deadline, the show is coming to Apple TV+ this September and it will include members of the original and the current Broadway casts. I recommend that you see it, and I look forward to seeing it again.
Tamara Palmer of Macworld offers a list of iPhone tips. Nothing new on this list, but some oldies that are goodies.
In 2005, when podcasts were relatively new, Steve Jobs described what they were at the All Things D conference as he previewed the addition of podcasts to iTunes so that you could listen to them on an iPad. Dieter Bohn of The Verge provided this link to the video on Twitter. It was interesting to listen to his enthusiasm for podcasts, which Jobs referred to as the “Wayne’s World of Radio” and “TiVo for radio for your iPod.” For Brett Burney and me, I’m not sure which one of us is Wayne and which one is Garth.
Speaking of Steve Jobs, back in 1983, someone sent him a letter to ask if he would sign something. Jobs wrote back to say that he doesn’t sign autographs. Now that letter — which Jobs signed, using his distinctive all-lower case signature — is being auctioned off as an autograph. Bidding starts next week at $1,000.
And finally, here is a fun video from Apple that shows off three techniques for creating, relatively easily, movie-quality special effects using an iPhone. All three are rather clever.
