This is not a “scan every image you (the law abiding citizen) upload” solution, such as suggested by Apple among others. This is making the unique digital hash evidence of illegal child abuse images and videos available to the Internet Watch Foundation that has the resources to search the internet for this material being used.
Digital fingerprints of a million child abuse images made – BBC News
The benefit of sharing the digital hash is that the actual material does not need to be shared or accessed to carry out the search or further legal actions. This is assuming a modern sophisticated hash algorithm has been used to avoid duplication of hash values for different images.
Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles
Further Reading
Apple’s plan to scan for child abuse images ‘tears at heart of privacy’ | Privacy | The Guardian
Internet Watch Foundation IWF – Eliminating Child Sexual Abuse Online | IWF
Cryptographic hash function – Wikipedia
Smart Thinking Solutions supports this UK Government initiative:
Let’s stop abuse together – Stop Abuse Together (campaign.gov.uk)
