cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/28530807
Following last year’s announcement, Google Messages is rolling out Sensitive Content Warnings that blur nude images on Android…
This image classification, which does not currently apply to videos, works on-device and is powered by Android System SafetyCore, which “doesn’t send identifiable data or any of the classified content or results to Google servers.”
It’s opt-in for adults but automatically activated for children’s devices.
Standardised censorship of general communication is scary Orwellian nonsense
If this is done locally on-device with no reporting back to Google, it could be a really good feature - the way Apple does it isn’t censorship, it just blurs the picture to give you a heads up “hey this is nudity, you wanna see this right now?”. You can click into it to see the original whenever you want, and it’s just a nice layer of protection to make sure you actively wanted to see whatever it was (and specifically right now). I hope google’s implementing it the same way, but I don’t trust them enough to bet on it and I couldn’t be bothered to read the article lol
Silently installed device scanning software is spyware whether it sends data or not.
The only reason it wouldn’t report is to avoid legal liability. Protections like this are thin and hinge upon the legal system determining whether the applet’s knowledge is an extension of Google’s.
If it’s silently installed / enabled by default, hard agree. (again, didn’t read the article so only familiar with apple’s version and not defending Google’s)
It is not about the initial application. There is enormous power in the ability to control such an app and roll changes in over time
Yep, tho the same power applies for a lot of an operating system so I see a basic level of trust for the developer as a prereq for even running the OS. If I didn’t trust the dev enough not to silently turn features into spyware then I’d never run the OS at all, personally (so anything Google makes is a hard pass for me). People should always follow release notes and be reevaluating their trust ofc, but if you’re actively expecting malware to be slipped into your shit I personally just wouldn’t give them the chance
