New web page urges you to contact Apple execs to stop controversial child protection plan

Fight for the Future, a nonprofit advocacy group for digital rights, has launched nospyphone.com. It’s a web page designed to give individuals a way to directly contact Apple to oppose its controversial child protection plan that involves scanning devices for child abuse images.

“We’ve been hearing from a lot of people who are very disappointed in (and worried about) Apple’s announcement, so we built this page with a way for people to directly email the Apple leadership who can reverse this decision,” says campaign director Caitlin Seeley George. “Thousands of people have already taken action, and this is on top of the Apple Privacy Letter as well as an open letter from civil society groups that we signed onto (which is currently embargoed but should be released tomorrow). It’s clear that experts and users alike are opposed to Apple’s plan and will do all we can to stop this update from happening.”

The nospyphone.com web page says: “Apple is abandoning its commitment to privacy with iOS 15 by creating an unprecedented backdoor it can use to scan everything on your Apple devices, including photos and messages. They say that this is to stop child sex abuse material, but once the backdoor exists, it will be used to surveil & censor people. Don’t let Apple throw away the privacy and security of billions.”

However, Apple has defended its plans. In addition to a detailed frequently asked questions document published on August 9, the tech giant has also confirmed that CSAM detection only applies to photos stored in iCloud Photos, not videos.