Actaully, I don't think it will remove a barrier for iCloud E2E encryption at all. On the contrary. All it will remove, is the barrier for what we find acceptible for companoes like Apple to implement. I think Apple made a very intrusive move, one that we will come to accept over time. After that, a next move follows...and so on. That's the barrier being moved. A point will be reached when E2E encryption is nothing more than a hoax, a non-feature with no added value. A mirage of what it is supposed to be. All of these things are implemented under the Child Protection flag. Sure, we need child protection, we need it badly, but the collateral is huge and quite handy too for most 3 letter agencies. I don't have the solution. The other day my 3 year old son had a rash, I took pictures of it over the course of a few days. A nude little boy, pictures from multiple angles. I showed my dermatologist. What will happen in the future? Will my iPhone "flag" me as a potential child predator? Can I tell it I'm a worried dad? Do I even have to be thinking about these things?

> I would gladly take this if it removes a barrier to making iCloud E2E encrypted; they are likely bound to do this type of detection, but doing it client-side before syncing feels like a sane way to do it.

But there is an issue there. Now there is a process on your phone capable of processing unencrypted data on your phone and communicating with the outside world. That is spyware which will almost certainly be abused in some way.

> Now there is a process on your phone capable of processing unencrypted data on your phone and communicating with the outside world.

What? That’s what all apps by definition do. My retinas can’t do decryption yet!

From the proposal it seems that this system 1. cannot be opted out of and 2. can run at any time the phone is powered on without user consent.

That puts it clearly in a different category from apps.

E2E encryption isn’t meaningful if third parties get to look at the decrypted content.