“Apple” delays the introduction of its features to protect children from pornography after sharp criticism

The American company, “Apple”, decided today, Friday, to postpone the introduction of child protection features from child pornography, which it announced last month, after it was subjected to many criticisms because of it.

Among the controversial features announced by Apple, which allow users to scan their photos for child sexual abuse material, has been specifically attacked by critics, who accused it of reducing users’ privacy.
Apple was due to introduce child protection features later this year.

“Last month, we announced plans for features designed to help protect children from predators who use communication tools to recruit and sexually exploit them, and to reduce the spread of child sexual abuse material,” Apple said in a statement obtained by The Verge. To feedback from customers, advocacy groups, researchers and others, we have decided to devote additional time over the coming months to gather input and make improvements before we launch critical child safety features.”

And Apple had previously assured its users that child protection features would not reduce their privacy, and explained in another statement that scanning the photos stored in the iCloud storage system will be through the users’ devices from the iPhone and iPad, and that this scanning lies Its importance is in monitoring whether it matches the image hash database of child sexual abuse material, and other child safety organizations.

However, many privacy and security experts have strongly criticized the company for the new features, arguing that it may facilitate the imposition of a monitoring system on Apple phones and devices, and that it violates the trust that users have placed in the American company to protect their privacy.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a statement issued on the fifth of last August that “the new features, however well-intentioned, break the main promises of the encryption of the messaging program in the “Apple” itself, and open the door to broader hacks.”