Is Apple’s image-scan plan a wise move or the start of a slippery slope? | John Naughton

The tech giant says its iCloud security update is designed to help weed out images of abuse their children, but activists have voiced concerns

Once upon a time, updates of computer operating systems were of interest only to geeks. No longer - at least in relation to Apple's operating systems, iOS and Mac OS. You may recall how Version 14.5 of iOS, which required users to opt in to tracking, had the online advertising racketeers in a tizzy while their stout ally, Facebook, stood up for them. Now, the forthcoming version of iOS has libertarians, privacy campaigners and thin-end-of-the-wedge" worriers in a spin.

It also has busy mainstream journalists struggling to find headline-friendly summaries of what Apple has in store for us. Apple is prying into iPhones to find sexual predators, but privacy activists worry governments could weaponise the feature" was how the venerable Washington Post initially reported it. This was, to put it politely, a trifle misleading and the first three paragraphs below the headline were, as John Gruber brusquely pointed out, plain wrong.