In a new privacy versus illegal content battle, West Virginia is suing to force Apple to crack down on child sexual abuse material (CSAM) stored on iCloud, which offers end-to-end encryption.
Apple has “knowingly allowed its iCloud platform to be used as a vehicle for distributing and storing child sexual abuse material,” West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey said in announcing the lawsuit. “Since Apple has so far refused to police themselves and do the morally right thing, I am filing this lawsuit to demand Apple follow the law, report these images, and stop re-victimizing children by allowing these images to be stored and shared.”
Although Apple has long prioritized user privacy, the company faced some backlash in 2021 for introducing a system on iPhones to scan for CSAM uploaded to iCloud. Apple later abandoned the project after numerous privacy advocates pointed to potential surveillance and censorship concerns, along with worries the system might ensnare innocent users, such as parents uploading pictures of their children.
In 2022, Apple rolled out optional end-to-end encryption for iCloud, meaning the company itself can’t access the data stored in an account. That’s where the West Virginia lawsuit comes in; it argues that iCloud provides a sanctuary for CSAM since it’s not accessible to law enforcement.
“Apple is profiting by virtue of the fact that they’ve made a conscious decision to not filter these images, to not report them to the proper authorities,” AG McCuskey said in a press conference.
The 58-page lawsuit points to a text message sent in 2020 by Apple’s anti-fraud chief, Eric Friedman, which was later disclosed at trial in another case. “We are the greatest platform for distributing child porn,” he wrote.
The lawsuit adds: “Because Apple does not scan its devices or cloud storage for CSAM, the risk of detection for users engaged in CSAM possession and distribution through its ecosystem is significantly lower compared to users who would attempt the same via Google or Meta’s digital ecosystems because those peers scan their networks for CSAM.”
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The lawsuit also calls out end-to-end encryption as a “barrier” to law enforcement, even though the technology has long been championed by privacy advocates and security experts.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But the company has long defended its approach to privacy, even marketing it as a perk to owning an iPhone.
Apple is facing a similar class-action lawsuit in California.
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