Apple has announced that it will delay the introduction of its controversial new child pornography protection tools, amid concerns that they could undermine the privacy of its devices and services.
The company had announced last month that its iPhones and iPads would soon start detecting images containing child sexual abuse and reporting them as they are uploaded to its online storage in the United States.
However, digital rights organisations quickly noted the tweaks to Apple’s operating systems create a potential “backdoor” into devices that could be exploited by governments or other groups.
Apple, in announcing the delay on Friday, cited the feedback from customers, advocacy groups, researchers and others.
“We have decided to take additional time over the coming months to collect input and make improvements before releasing these critically important child safety features,” the company said in a statement.
New technology allows the software powering Apple mobile devices to match abusive photos on a user’s phone against a database of known child sex abuse images provided by safety organisations, then flag the images as they are uploaded to the company’s iCloud storage, according to the company.
The system, if and when it goes into use, would be “powered by a cryptographic technology” to determine “if there is a match without revealing the result”, unless the image was found to contain depictions of child sexual abuse.
