Apple to scan iPhones for child sex abuse images

 

Apple has announced details of a system to find child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on customers' devices.

Before an image is stored onto iCloud Photos, the technology will search for matches of already known CSAM.

Apple said that if a match is found a human reviewer will then assess and report the user to law enforcement.

However there are privacy concerns that the technology could be expanded to scan phones for prohibited content or even political speech.

Experts worry that the technology could be used by authoritarian governments to spy on its citizens.

Apple said that new versions of iOS and iPadOS - due to be released later this year - will have "new applications of cryptography to help limit the spread of CSAM online, while designing for user privacy".

The system works by comparing pictures to a database of known child sexual abuse images compiled by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and other child safety organisations.

Those images are translated into "hashes", numerical codes that can be "matched" to an image on an Apple device.

Apple says the technology will also catch edited but similar versions of original images.

'High level of accuracy'

"Before an image is stored in iCloud Photos, an on-device matching process is performed for that image against the known CSAM hashes," Apple said.

The company claimed the system had an "extremely high level of accuracy and ensures less than a one in one trillion chance per year of incorrectly flagging a given account".

Apple says that it will manually review each report to confirm there is a match. It can then take steps to disable a user's account and report to law enforcement.

The company says that the new technology offers "significant" privacy benefits over existing techniques - as Apple only learns about users' photos if they have a collection of known CSAM in their iCloud Photos account.

However some privacy experts have voiced concerns.

"Regardless of what Apple's long term plans are, they've sent a very clear signal. In their (very influential) opinion, it is safe to build systems that scan users' phones for prohibited content," Matthew Green, a security researcher at Johns Hopkins University, said.

"Whether they turn out to be right or wrong on that point hardly matters. This will break the dam — governments will demand it from everyone."

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Excerpt from BBC News Homes.....

US to allow visitors from Hong Kong to stay for 18 months

Thousands of Hong Kong residents are to be offered a temporary "safe haven" in the US, President Joe Biden says.

Mr Biden said that because Hong Kong's freedoms were being violated by China, the US would allow visitors to stay for a period of 18 months.

Thousands of Hong Kong residents already in the US may benefit.

The UK has offered people from Hong Kong a path towards permanent residency following last year's adoption of China's security law for the territory.

The law criminalises what are deemed to be acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion.

Mr Biden said there were "compelling foreign policy reasons" to allow Hong Kong visitors to stay.

He said China had been "undermining its remaining democratic processes and institutions, imposing limits on academic freedom, and cracking down on freedom of the press".

He pointed to the arrests of over 100 people, including activists and opposition politicians, under the new security regime.

However, Liu Pengyu, the spokesman for China's embassy in Washington, criticised the US government's actions, which he said "disregard and distort facts, and grossly interfere in China's internal affairs".

But Maggie Shum, a researcher in the US, said many students had been left in limbo amid uncertainty about returning to Hong Kong and welcomed Thursday's news.

"I feel elated and welcome this Biden decision to not abandon us - the US did not abandon us," she told Reuters news agency.

Samuel Chu of Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, which campaigned for the move, says the group estimates that it could affect some 100,000 people.

"It is a significant number because, I think, its a pretty good chance that a pretty large number of visitors would benefit from this," he told the BBC.

"Partly also because the situation in Hong Kong has been unfolding pretty publicly, and you've seen people travelling and leaving Hong Kong in droves, not just to the US but other countries."

The US government says some 155,000 visitors arrived from Hong Kong in 2019 and 23,000 came in 2020.

Those who have serious criminal convictions will reportedly not be eligible to stay.

The move is the latest action Mr Biden has taken to combat what he says is an erosion of democracy in Hong Kong.

In July, the  US government warned firms over the risks of doing business in Hong Kong under the security law.

In January, the UK 

introduced a scheme allowing residents of the former British colony to come to the UK for up to five years and apply for permanent residency. It launched the visa after China imposed the security law.

The British government estimates 5.4 million Hong Kong residents are eligible for the scheme, and expects 300,000 people to take up the offer in the first five years.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab welcomed Mr Biden's announcement as a "big-hearted decision".

EXPLAINER: Can 5.4 million Hong Kong residents now live in the UK?

IN DEPTH: The Hong Kong slogan that will land you in jail
 

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Excerpt from BBC News Homes.....

Indian women's hockey: Sixteen stories of struggle, one tale of triumph

 

The Indian women's hockey team made history by qualifying for their first Olympic semi-final - and are now bidding for a medal at the Olympics for the first time. But the journey so far has not been an easy one, writes Deepti Patwardhan.

"What will she do playing hockey? She will run around the field wearing a short skirt and bring a bad name to your family," Rani Rampal's parents were told.

Vandana Katariya was discouraged to play hockey because it was "unbecoming of a girl". Neha Goyal, born to an alcoholic father prone to violence, sought solace in the hockey field.

Nisha Warsi's mother worked at a foam factory to keep food on the family's plate after her father suffered a paralytic attack in 2015. Nikki Pradhan, who hails from the tribal belt of Jharkhand, laboured in paddy fields and started playing hockey with borrowed, broken sticks on gravel playgrounds.

They tackled the odds, ignored the naysayers and silenced the critics. They overcame.

The Indian women making hockey history in Tokyo

• India men's hockey ends 41-year Olympic drought
  

• Rampal, Katariya, Goyal, Warsi and Pradhan are only some of the protagonists in India's squad of 16 bidding for history.

  For the first time, the Indian women's hockey team will compete for a medal at the Olympics as they take on Great Britain in the bronze medal playoff at the Tokyo Games.

  Even before they left for the Olympics, not many gave them a chance to progress into the knockouts. But they did.

  In the quarter-finals they took on former champions Australia. They played with the kind of skill that the world associates with Indian hockey, and the kind of pace no-one had quite expected from them. They defeated Australia 1-0 on Monday to make their maiden Olympic semi-final.

• 

  For the first time, the Indian women's hockey team will compete for a medal at the Olympics as they take on Great Britain in the bronze medal playoff at the Tokyo Games.

  Even before they left for the Olympics, not many gave them a chance to progress into the knockouts. But they did.

  In the quarter-finals they took on former champions Australia. They played with the kind of skill that the world associates with Indian hockey, and the kind of pace no-one had quite expected from them. They defeated Australia 1-0 on Monday to make their maiden Olympic semi-final.

• Rampal, Katariya, Goyal, Warsi and Pradhan are only some of the protagonists in India's squad of 16 bidding for history.

• It was a momentous occasion for hockey, which is so intricately linked with India's sporting glory.

  India once ruled field hockey, mainly when it was still played on a natural field. While the men were put on a pedestal, women were largely ignored.

  India has won 11 Olympic medals, including eight golds, in hockey. But the women's team, which made its debut in 1980, has played in only three editions, including Tokyo.

  Most of the women in Indian hockey came from impoverished backgrounds and were used to making do with meagre resources and official apathy. At times, the promise of a government job and a steady salary had to suffice over athletic dreams. It wasn't till 2012 that efforts were put in to improve the women's game.

• India's big wins and misses at Tokyo 2020 Olympics
  

• India celebrates Sindhu's world badminton glory
  

Former Australian player Neil Hawgood recalled the diffidence in the team when he arrived as the coach in 2012. He had to convince them that he was there to help them succeed rather than blame them for the failures.

"We had to get them to trust us, and that was the biggest key," Hawgood told the BBC.

"Deep Grace Ekka and Sunita Lakra took about two years before they would look me in the eye…By 2014, that trust had been developed, and the team began to grow. Foreign coaches can say that (Indian players are meek), but to recognise and understand why that was there in the first place is and was where we made the biggest gains in the early years."

Under Hawgood, the Indian women's team qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 36 years.

Though the trip to Rio didn't quite go according to plan, they gained experience and some confidence. It proved to be an important first step, because it proved that they could work wonders when given the proper resources and tools.

With coach Sjoerd Marijne at the helm and Wayne Lombard revolutionising the way they train, Indian women's hockey has almost been brought up to speed.

In 1980, when the team travelled to Moscow Olympics, they were accompanied by a coach and a manager. At the Tokyo Games, they have a support staff of seven.

Over the last five years, the women's team has benefitted from a scientific, sophisticated approach towards the game.

Of the 16 players that are in Tokyo, eight of them had played at Rio 2016, giving the team a strong core. They have learnt from the experience, shared it and built upon it.

The pandemic threatened to throw a spanner in the works, but the Indian team stayed on the extra year in the Sports Authority of India campus in Bengaluru revising their lines, devising their plans.

India arrived in Tokyo prepared.

Their new-found confidence was evident in the way they refused to fade away against South Africa in the final group match or be intimidated by Australia in the semis.

Katariya, who once trained in isolation to hide from the reprimanding glances of elders in her village, thrived under the spotlight. She scored a hat-trick, first by an Indian woman at the Olympics, to help India edge South Africa 4-3 and stay alive in the competition.

Though there have been streaks of individual brilliance, like Katariya's, this squad of 16 will be remembered for their team work and commitment to each other.

They have all had their own journeys, their own stories of struggle, and have found strength in a common goal.

A lot them had built their and their family's lives from ground up. Now, they are taking Indian hockey to greater heights.

Deepti Patwardhan is an independent sports journalist based in Mumbai.

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Excerpt from BBC News Homes.....

China: How Delta threatens a prized zero Covid strategy

When Air China Flight CA910 touched down at the Chinese city of Nanjing on 10 July, it was carrying more than just a planeload of passengers.

One of those people travelling from Moscow had the Delta variant of Covid-19. After they left the plane, staff from the Nanjing Lukou airport swooped in to pick up their rubbish.

According to Chinese officials, when those cleaners exited the aircraft they brought the virus along with them to the outside world - sparking what has now become China's widest outbreak since Wuhan.

In the last few weeks, at the height of the summer travel season, Delta has been detected in at least 16 Chinese provinces and municipalities. Most cases are linked to Nanjing.

Though there are a few hundred cases - relatively low for a country of 1.4 billion people - many are unnerved that the virus has appeared in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan.

Record cases as Asia battles Delta variant

What is the Delta variant and is it more dangerous?

In response, China has fallen back on familiar methods. Millions have been tested, sometimes more than once. Cities have gone into lockdown, while transport links in some areas have been cut.

It's what experts call a zero-tolerance or elimination strategy, seen not just in China but also other places such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

But the astonishing speed of Delta's spread has also prompted questions about whether the approach is truly sustainable in China, in the face of a more transmissible Covid variant.

'Kill it when you catch it'

Already there had been signs of people letting down their guard, experts have pointed out.

Before Nanjing, there were several smaller outbreaks in Guangdong and along the borders with Russia and Myanmar.

Mask-wearing had become less commonplace than at the start of the pandemic, and mass gatherings had become the norm again. A theatre performance at the tourist destination of Zhangjiajie, in Hunan province, attended by around 2,000 people has been identified as a potential super-spreader event in the current outbreak.

State media have also pointed out "glaring loopholes" at Nanjing airport.

Officials believe the plane cleaners did not follow Covid protection protocols, and admitted that the flight was allowed to land even though it had been barred from flying multiple times for carrying Covid-positive passengers.

The quick swing from relaxed attitudes to hard lockdown illustrates a common issue in Chinese governance where there is often little room for nuance, according to virologist Jin Dongyan of Hong Kong University.

"We have the saying, 'kill it when you catch it, chaos when you let go'. The Chinese style is very extreme," he told the BBC.

Meanwhile, some are worried about whether Chinese vaccines are effective after authorities revealed that many of the early Nanjing cases were people who were fully vaccinated.

Health authorities have given public reassurances, even as they consider giving booster shots. Shao Yiming of the Chinese Center of Disease Control and Prevention said while there was no vaccine that could prevent Covid infection, "currently [vaccines] could still control all variants of the virus".

China has already administered more than 1.7 billion vaccine doses, though it has not said how many people are fully vaccinated.

Is China's vaccine success waning in Asia?

What do we know about China's Covid-19 vaccines?

But unlike other countries which have opened up after mass vaccinations, China does not seem willing to change course with the way it has reacted to the latest outbreak, say experts.

"There appears to be this lack of confidence in their vaccines that justifies this continuance of strategy," Professor Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told the BBC.

A recent Global Times editorial rejected the idea of a UK-style re-opening, saying it was "almost politically inconceivable" as it would result in "unimaginable social costs and pain". It called instead for a "dynamic zero-Covid" approach with "controllable windows" to the outside world.

But in a Caixin commentary  top medical expert Zhang Wenhong acknowledged that the latest outbreak "once again reminds us of the ever-present virus."

"Whether we like it or not, there will always be risks in the future," he said, adding that among other things China should "promote a return to normal life while protecting its citizens from fear of the virus".

Uphill battle

It may not be easy to switch to what experts call a mitigation strategy, which focuses on reducing deaths rather than cases.

One of the biggest challenges for authorities, as Zhang appeared to hint at, is how to convince a risk averse Chinese public.

"There was this massively traumatic experience they had, seeing what happened in Wuhan where their health systems were completely overwhelmed. If they reopen, they are afraid that the Chinese health system would not be able to handle [another surge], especially in rural areas," said Prof Huang.

Prof Jin said the way state media depicted the virus had also fuelled this fear, with some outlets "presenting the Indian outbreak as if it was the end of days, and the situation in the UK and US was shown to be hellish."

There is also the question of losing face.

The successes of zero Covid allowed the Chinese government "to claim that this approach is superior to the Western approach, which is associated with general failure in containing the virus, and even claim the superiority of the Chinese political system," said Prof Huang.

"If they start abandoning it and turn to mitigation, they are basically endorsing a Western approach that they had trashed."

Looming divide

With relatively few deaths since Wuhan and an economy on the rebound, some in China may not feel the need to change.

But a long-term zero Covid strategy also has its risks.

Mass lockdowns affect poorer people much more than others, and also affect a population's mental health over the long run, pointed out Nancy Jecker, a professor of bioethics at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

"If China doesn't shift fast enough, the effects would be more severe at all levels of society," she said. She called for a more nuanced approach, such as more localised lockdowns and prioritising certain groups, like allowing schools to stay open while gyms and restaurants remain closed.

Prof Huang also warned of a long-term image problem for China as other countries move to reopen. Fellow zero Covid countries Australia and Singapore recently announced plans pegged to 80% vaccination rates.

Eventually the world would be split into two types of countries, said Prof Jecker: those who continue to pursue a zero Covid strategy, and those who have switched to mitigation.

"But ultimately we may not have a choice but to accept it - in a post-pandemic phase, deaths will recede but the virus may reappear annually like the cold," she said.

"If that's right, then China will have to live with it."

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Excerpt from BBC News Homes.....