iOS 15.2 Beta Blurs Nude Images For Kids Using Messages App (macrumors.com) 92
iOS 15.2 has been released today, bringing a new feature called Communication Safety in Messages that is able to detect and automatically blur nude images that are sent or received by children. It's one of several Child Safety features Apple announced over the summer. As MacRumors notes, it's "not the same as the controversial anti-CSAM feature that Apple plans to implement in the future after revisions." From the report: Communication Safety is a Family Sharing feature that can be enabled by parents, and it is opt-in rather than activated by default. When turned on, the Messages app is able to detect nudity in images that are sent or received by children. If a child receives or attempts to send a photo with nudity, the image will be blurred and the child will be warned about the content, told it's okay not to view the photo, and offered resources to contact someone they trust for help. When Communication Safety was first announced, Apple said that parents of children under the age of 13 had the option to receive a notification if the child viewed a nude image in Messages, but after receiving feedback, Apple has removed this feature. Apple now says that no notifications are sent to parents.
Apple removed the notification option because it was suggested that parental notification could pose a risk for a child in a situation where there is parental violence or abuse. For all children, including those under the age of 13, Apple will instead offer guidance on getting help from a trusted adult in a situation where nude photos are involved. Checking for nudity in photos is done on-device, with Messages analyzing image attachments. The feature does not impact the end-to-end encryption of messages, and no indication of the detection of nudity leaves the device. Apple has no access to the Messages.
Apple removed the notification option because it was suggested that parental notification could pose a risk for a child in a situation where there is parental violence or abuse. For all children, including those under the age of 13, Apple will instead offer guidance on getting help from a trusted adult in a situation where nude photos are involved. Checking for nudity in photos is done on-device, with Messages analyzing image attachments. The feature does not impact the end-to-end encryption of messages, and no indication of the detection of nudity leaves the device. Apple has no access to the Messages.
Does that also work for ads? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you can identify nudity, identifying ads should be trivial. How about a feature that automatically removes that pest?
Re: Does that also work for ads? (Score:2)
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Then I guess doing that as well can't be that hard for them.
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If Apple is controlling the function, then they would never let it work that way. But at least the pornographers could make a deal with Apple to deliver more porn for children. No corporation can resist the sweet, sweet candy of more profit.
Hey, here's a crazy idea: How about stopping the spammers from using Facebook to send vast reams of porno spam to children? Or am I the only one seeing that recent flood?
Citation needed? I'm trying to finish H.M. Pulham Esquire by John Marquand. Written about 1940 and
Re: Does that also work for ads? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Can you use uMatrix in iOS? I use Adblock Guard, but it doesn't block all ads in iOS apps. :(
Re: Does that also work for ads? (Score:3)
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Apple has done absolutely nothing to protect me from ads. Greylisting in Postfix, an RBL and Spamassassin have, on the other hand.
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Apple is protecting you from targeted ads _from_ any other organisation... except them
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Then why doesn't Safari allow adblock?
Re:Does that also work for ads? (Score:5, Funny)
My hobby is blurring out parts of ordinary pictures of people and posting them on the web so viewers will think the pictures are actually very naughty.
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My hobby is [censored] out parts of [censored] of people and posting them on the web so viewers will [censored] the pictures [censored] very naughty.
Have you no shame?
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https://knowyourmeme.com/memes... [knowyourmeme.com]
Enjoy
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Hahahha, nice! The disturbed fanatical victorian prudes will probably be foaming at the mouth!
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If you can identify nudity, identifying ads should be trivial. How about a feature that automatically removes that pest?
Indeed. Or at least blurs them.
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For calculating AI complexity, we should use the grandma check.
If your grandma gets texted an Ad pretending to be normal communication, she will respond to it and think it legit.
If you grandma gets texted a nude image, she would know that right away and get angry about it.
Besides the engineers at Apple want an excuse for looking at porn all day.
Bye bye, anatomy. (Score:3)
Re:Bye bye, anatomy. (Score:4, Insightful)
In the past with censorship technologies like this they have blocked access to things like educational sites and support lines. While that is unlikely to be an issue for Messenger, Apple is probably using it as a test-bed before rolling out to other areas.
I'm sure there will be some sample images that make it past their filters appearing on Twitter shortly.
Re: Bye bye, anatomy. (Score:2)
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Re:Bye bye, anatomy. (Score:4, Insightful)
You're 12 and you want to learn some basic things about the human body? About your own body? Not on Apple's watch!
Was gonna post a rant too, but then I actually looked and the kids are allowed to accept images if they want to without any controls from so this system is completely optional (in contrast to the earlier version) and shouldn't actually stop any educational images. They gotta learn that sometimes the tools are wrong - nothing wrong with that. The point about beheadings vs nudity below is more valid, but this is an area of "be really really careful what you ask for because you might get it and then not be able to get rid of it afterwards" so let's be a little careful with our criticism here.
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You can be sure that this freedom will be removed in a not-too-distant update. "Salami technique" at work. Also refer to "slowly boiling a frog".
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Indeed. They could find out things that actually matter to their life! Better protect children as long as possible from _everything_ so they can have some really crass failures when they become of age. Also, we need to keep those teen pregnancy numbers up, because they are obviously a good thing!
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You're 12 and you want to learn some basic things about the human body? About your own body? Not on Apple's watch!
The blurring is on iOS, not watchOS. So you probably could still do it on Apple's Watch.
Re: Bye bye, anatomy. (Score:2)
You're 12 and you want to learn some basic things about the human body? About your own body? Not on Apple's watch!
I'm and adult and _I_ do not want to learn anything about the human body through a DM picture, fuck you very much.
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Not on Apple's watch!
With a screen that tiny, you're not seeing much anyway.
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Not on Apple's watch!
With a screen that tiny, you're not seeing much anyway.
You forget Pinch to Zoom!
American Prudism Prevails Again (Score:4, Insightful)
Can't look in the mirror naked, but watching people get beheaded is a-ok. Thanks, apple.
I actually don't have much truck with the idea since it is opt-in, but only as long as it really stays that way, and doesn't in some way become no longer optional. But it is telling that they first went for massive over-reach, then stepped back and came with something much less disagreeable. And of course their big hang-up is nekkid peepl, because Kids Might Get Ideas. Killing people in job lots, though, still fine.
Teh zuck does the same, then starts squeezing again. And apple isn't particularly known for leaving choice to the end-user either. So all things considered, I really do not think that this sort of morality policing, because that is what it is, is best left in the hands of large corporations. So while I don't think a parent-controlled filter is all that bad, apple still shouldn't meddle with policing content at all.
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So while I don't think a parent-controlled filter is all that bad, apple still shouldn't meddle with policing content at all.
One problem is that in the Apple ecosystem you're not allowed to change out parts of what is effectively the system. While on Android I can load a different engine to render web content even inside of apps (I have Bromite installed on my device, for example) on iOS you're not even allowed to make a web browser which doesn't render with Safari. Apple claims this is about security and functionality, but it's obvious that they don't want it pointed out that their browser is junk, and they don't want segmentati
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Apple claims this is about security and functionality, but it's obvious that they don't want it pointed out that their browser is junk, and they don't want segmentation to occur so that anything that works on iOS "just works" and if it doesn't work, you should have bought something else.
1. The decision to only allow WebKit-based browsers is based on security. How many Pwn2Own contests were won based on browser exploits? Browsers have grown in complexity to the point where they are nearly miniature Operating Systems. Apple likely figured that even they didn’t have the resources to properly vet multiple browsers with ties as deep into iOS as a typical browser would need (not to mention all the private Libraries that would also have to be checked); and that they had enough of a time dev
Well, of course the human body is hideous (Score:5, Funny)
Seeing a human body might easily destroy a young child's fragile eggshell mind. We must prevent that at all costs.
We should also blur animal nudity, as they might raise some unpleasant conjectures in the curious.
Plus, God commands that we keep our heads covered, so we had better blur any images of men without hats, and songs by Men Without Hats.
Only thus will humanity remain righteous, pure and holy, as we were created, only with clothes this time.
Re:Well, of course the human body is hideous (Score:4, Interesting)
Meanwhile in Denmark, John Dillermand is proving popular with the target demographic of 4 to 8 year olds.
It's about a middle aged guy with a penis that can extend to several metres long, and be used as a tool e.g. as a helicopter. It seems to have a mind of its own too, getting him into trouble.
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That actually sounds pretty funny!
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A few years ago there was a Japanese children's show with a character called Mr. Puri Puri, which apparently translates to "turd". He'd pop up out of random toilet bowls and spout non-sequitur but very profound sounding wisdoms. John Dillermand reminded me of that somehow.
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That's just the Japanese version of Mr. Hanky.
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Either this is where South Park got the idea for Mr. Hankey from, or vice versa. I really don't want to research who came up with the idea of an anthropomorphic cartoon turd first.
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I tried, but all I got was a bunch of pages about the guy who played Mola Ram.
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It seems to have a mind of its own too, getting him into trouble.
That's how it normally works, yes.
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This is fucking hysterical. How did I not know this exists?
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catchy theme song, too [youtube.com]
At least apple has humour (Score:2)
>> The feature does not impact the end-to-end encryption
HAHAHAHAHA, good one, really !
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>> The feature does not impact the end-to-end encryption
HAHAHAHAHA, good one, really !
They claim that? Seems Apple is using the "Big Lie" technique now too. Very old (see, e.g. organized religion), but the person that really put the finishing touches on it was Goebbels.
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>> The feature does not impact the end-to-end encryption
HAHAHAHAHA, good one, really !
Since the detection is done on-device, at one "end", how do you say it affects E2E Encryption?
At some point, the encrypted data must be-encrypted (decrypted is apparently a non-word) to be useful. Apple did it right (like they are now starting to do with voice dictation), by doing it On-Device, as clearly stated in TFS.
Reading Is FUN-damental!
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>> Apple did it right,.... by doing it On-Device
Nope.
They still interfere with your data, and leak part of it out.
Clear failure of privacy.
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>> Apple did it right,.... by doing it On-Device
Nope.
They still interfere with your data, and leak part of it out.
Clear failure of privacy.
How so?
Yes, they technically can "interfere" with certain Image data; but only if prior authorization is given. So no Privacy is violated; because that Right was voluntarily waived.
Everything is done On-Device, and not even so much as a Notification is sent anywhere. So, where us this mythical "leak", again?
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They send out information about the result of the algorythm.
That is called a leak.
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They send out information about the result of the algorythm.
That is called a leak.
No they don't; so no it isn't.
Show me where it says anything about "They send out information about the result of the algorythm". In fact, TFS specifically says the exact opposite.
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it's a fact. Blocking or not blocking information itself is already an information. There's much more communicated to the mothershp's database.
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it's a fact. Blocking or not blocking information itself is already an information. There's much more communicated to the mothershp's database.
Prove it, moron.
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Indeed. Really got to find a place with fewer fanatical fuck-ups for my next reincarnation.
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Apple seems to have an unhealthy preoccupation with nude pictures of children.
Nice try! (Score:2)
This almost sounds like a challenge. Nice try, devs, but we're onto your attempt to build the world's largest collection of overweight, amateur male nudes.
And in a little while (Score:2)
It's gonna detect and alter "Brandon" memes too.
For your safety.
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Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
Which part?
The one where the nbc reporter looked in the camera with a straight face and said they were chanting let's go brandon, the part where the brandon memes erupted on the right, the part where the msm freaked out about it, or the part where the left started saying thank you brandon as a rejoinder?
There's so much stupid to choose from, you may suffer from paralysis by analysis if you don't identify which particular stupid you find the most childish.
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The one where the nbc reporter looked in the camera with a straight face and said they were chanting let's go brandon,
Yep
the part where the brandon memes erupted on the right,
Yep
the part where the msm freaked out about it,
You mean Faux News? They're the MSM now, as the most popular news media outlet in America. The right wing's claims that the MSM would be fake news and propaganda have finally come true, thanks to the best efforts of the right wing.
or the part where the left started saying thank you brandon as a rejoinder?
Yeah, that part too.
Me, I just peel the stupid stickers off of gas pumps. And I told our MAGA at work to just say "Fuck Joe Biden" like the rest of us. Left, right, none of us like the guy. Some of us like him better than Trump, but that's saying roughly dick. (The ones who
Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
Ya know...Trump's tough-guy act re covid may have been a little overboard in one direction, but Biden's 'fraidy-ass coward act that tells two-year olds to mask up and vaccinated 25 year olds to wear two masks and quarantine for two weeks after an exposure is farther overboard in the other direction. All told I'd prefer the former given that vaccines and therapeutics are practically falling out of the sky in this country and have been for the last 6 months.
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Ya know...Trump's tough-guy act re covid may have been a little overboard in one direction,
That's not even what I'm talking about at all. I'm talking about how Trump didn't pay for any doses up front, didn't pledge to order enough doses for all Americans who wanted one let alone for all Americans, and attempted to enrich himself at the expense of convincing his followers to take the vaccine.
but Biden's 'fraidy-ass coward act that tells two-year olds to mask up and vaccinated 25 year olds to wear two masks and quarantine for two weeks after an exposure is farther overboard in the other direction
Children are literally transmitting covid to adults, and masks are there to help reduce that, so yeah children should wear masks and quarantine after exposure. And so should adults. The quarantine would be les
Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
if a child spreads covid to a vaccinated adult it isn't a problem.
If a child spreads covid to an unvaccinated adult, whose fault us that? And what good is there in making me or my kid mask up to try to fix a problem orthogonal to anything I do?
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if a child spreads covid to a vaccinated adult it isn't a problem.
That's nonsense. It's potentially less of a problem than spreading it to an unvaccinated adult, but even some vaccinated adults are having serious effects (including mortality.)
If a child spreads covid to an unvaccinated adult, whose fault us that?
Some adults can't get vaccinated [yale.edu] and some vaccinated adults are still suffering significant symptoms [npr.org]. So I'd say that unless they skipped the vaccine because they're schmucks, the answer is the child's parents.
Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
You haven't yet come to terms with the idea of endimicity. Don't worry. You will.
Let me give you a hint for a head start.
Flu is endemic. It can kill many tens of thousands a year. Mostly the infirm. Those people know who they are and are free to take precautions during flu season, such as staying away from crowds, refraining from travel, wearing masks, and getting extra high dose geriatric versions of the flu shot. Sometimes (like in 2017-2018) they end up clogging the hospitals anyway and spreading flu to
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You haven't yet come to terms with the idea of endimicity.
Wrong again. I fully expect covid to never go away because so many people give so few fucks about their fellow humans.
Flu is endemic.
Flu is dramatically less harmful than covid, so if you get near a point please make it. Otherwise stick to talking points which are relevant, thanks.
We nevertheless do not extrernalize the costs of their problems by making the majority of everyone else modify their behavior in punitive ways for the benefit of a small number.
We have done before with illnesses which are more deadly and/or debilitating than the flu, like covid is. So in fact we actually do that when necessary. Your comparisons to the flu only underscore the invalidity of your argument when applied to
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We nevertheless do not extrernalize the costs of their problems by making the majority of everyone else modify their behavior in punitive ways for the benefit of a small number
Oh, just SHUT THE FUCK UP!
Your kind are literally keeping this virus going. We’ve already had a shot across the bow with the Delta-Variant. Are you fucktards actually wanting Nature to randomly-create a truly vaccine-resistant and 90% Lethal strain?
Because that is exactly the type of fire you are playing-with.
Grow up.
Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
The seasonal flu wasn't always seasonal. Every once in a while a new strain shows up and rips through killing millions. The 1918 flu is still around. But there were waves of it a century ago that made India's big covid wave last spring look like the sniffles.
There are reasons to believe that at least one of the other four seasonal coronaviruses circulating among humans started as a pandemic too. But over the centuries as children got exposed it lost its punch in adults.
Keep in mind: once you get to a certai
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There are reasons to believe that at least one of the other four seasonal coronaviruses circulating among humans started as a pandemic too. But over the centuries as children got exposed it lost its punch in adults.
And as YOU YOURSELF have pointed out, this will STILL HAPPEN even with vaccination and masks. However, in classic form for a right-wingnut, you are ignoring the issue of overwhelming the medical system. Neither vaccination nor masking prevents all covid infections, but such a regimen can keep the rate of severe infections down to something our garbage republican-compromised health care system can manage.
You also have to recognize that masking prevents the spread of other respiratory viruses
Well, at least you acknowledge that masking can reduce the spread of viruses. That puts you rather well a
Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
I'd kill for my children. Many would kill for their children.
Best to refrain from giving people the idea that they have to. 'kay?
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I'd kill for my children. Many would kill for their children.
That is reasonable when killing for your children is the only way to save them from a deliberate threat. It's not reasonable otherwise.
Best to refrain from giving people the idea that they have to. 'kay?
That idea is not given, it is taken, or created from whole cloth. It looks a lot like what you're saying here is that you should kill people for wearing masks because not spreading viruses as much led your child to harm. That's definitely wingnuttery.
Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
What I'm saying is that policies that mask everyone may very well hurt my children more than they help them or me.
That's how I take the idea that masking children and adults long-term is more harmful than it is helpful.
Where you *give* me the idea is when you tell me that it's not "reasonable" for me to accept that cost to my family in exchange for a benefit to the old and infirm who in my estimation are likely to die of communicable illnesses regardless of how much covid there is out there.
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What I'm saying is that policies that mask everyone may very well hurt my children more than they help them or me.
Right, and what I'm saying about your selfishness is that you have implied that you might kill people in that case because society isn't working out for you, even though it's working for the majority of people. You apparently expect others to put you ahead of many more people. This is textbook individualism, also known as selfishness, and while again it is unsurprising society frankly cannot function if it bows to you.
That's how I take the idea that masking children and adults long-term is more harmful than it is helpful.
The wrong idea, as it turns out, because the same masking that put your child at greater r
Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
So masks didn't and don't stop my kid from getting a new daycare virus every two or three weeks and possibly contributed to more rsv a few months back.
All cost. Dubious benefit.
And I'm the logically challenged one?
You're the entitled little whiner that thinks everyone needs to march to your drum, have the same priorities, and humor your irrational fears.
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So masks didn't and don't stop my kid from getting a new daycare virus every two or three weeks
Nobody said they would. But if you chose a day care intelligently then you found one where they care about sanitation, and provided the best chance to avoid such.
All cost. Dubious benefit.
You frankly have no idea how much benefit there was, because you don't know what the route of infection was, or what was prevented.
And I'm the logically challenged one?
I don't recall stuttering.
You're the entitled little whiner
Ah yes, Ad Hominem. Get some.
that thinks everyone needs to march to your drum, have the same priorities,
That, sir, is frankly ass-backwards. I think society cannot function if it has your priorities, where your child is more important than everyone else.
and humor your irrational fears.
There's nothin
Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
If covid is more contagious than many other illnesses, and masks do not in practice contain those other illnesses in daycare settings, it stands to reason that masks in daycares are of dubious benefit at best.
I've sent my kid to two daycares at this point. Both had comparable infection control procedures. Both had daycare viruses of roughly comparable rates. Because kids be kids.
One had a staff member catch covid lre vaccine. None of the kids did because that staff member wasn't hands on with them. The othe
Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/1... [nytimes.com]
Oh look. That reactionary rag that calls itself the New York Times is regularly runnning opinion pieces about learning to live with covid as one of many maladies instead of organizing our lives around it.
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If covid is more contagious than many other illnesses, and masks do not in practice contain those other illnesses in daycare settings, it stands to reason that masks in daycares are of dubious benefit at best.
No, in fact it doesn't, and for at least three reasons. One, you don't know the rates of exposure with or without. Two, you don't know responsible mask-wearing in fact occurred. And Three, reducing viral load can result in a less serious infection, so you don't know that the masks didn't provide benefit even if infection occurred.
Society would function much much better if busy bodies weren't trying to impose their will on others
Which conservatives always want to do, but never want done back to them.
Re: And in a little while (Score:2)
Okay dude. Where is the line between *enforcing* "responsible" mask-wearing on a two year old and child abuse? Because I promise you that that line exists a lot closer to where we are than you think it does.
Secondly...we have pretty good knowledge of rates of noncovid daycare illnesses before 2020.
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Society would function much much better if busy bodies weren't trying to impose their will on others and left everyone else tthe fuck alone instead of demanding that their fears of a vaccine-preventable illness be humored.
So in your perfect world, we should just flush all vaccines, shutter the CDC, the WHO, etc.; because they are doing nothing but fucking with the proper functioning of Society?
Riiight.
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if a child spreads covid to a vaccinated adult it isn't a problem.
That's nonsense. It's potentially less of a problem than spreading it to an unvaccinated adult, but even some vaccinated adults are having serious effects (including mortality.)
If a child spreads covid to an unvaccinated adult, whose fault us that?
Some adults can't get vaccinated [yale.edu] and some vaccinated adults are still suffering significant symptoms [npr.org]. So I'd say that unless they skipped the vaccine because they're schmucks, the answer is the child's parents.
Exactly!
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> until the world gets vaccinated
And just how do you propose making that happen? The anti-vaxxers have never been reasonable or rational. And I don't see them suddenly becoming reasonable and rational just because we ask... one more time... "Would you kindly stop being dangerous self-destructive idiots?" no matter how many one-more-times we do so. You know that old saying about the definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result from the same inputs. There
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The one where the nbc reporter looked in the camera with a straight face and said they were chanting let's go brandon
Ever actually been to a race? They're loud. Really loud. As in, loud enough that your ears will probably be ringing afterwards and you might not be able to clearly hear what a crowd is chanting. The reporter could've just made an honest mistake, but we can't let that get in the way of a good conspiracy.
You are correct though, that Apple will probably extend the use of this technology further. Probably not to filter out moronic right-wing memes anytime soon, but more than likely it will creep as-is into
How would that have harmed an already abused (Score:2)
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Naa, you misunderstand. Obviously the evil only happens in the pictures! Abusing a child is totally fine unless you take pictures. Just look up what the sentencing is for just having pictures without abusing a child or for actually abusing a child but not taking pictures. The second has a good chance of getting you a lower sentence and getting caught is a lot less likely too. Bonus points for abusing a child while being a policeman. Probably derived from "You shall not make for yourself an image" in some me
Oh ... (Score:1)
iOS 15.2 Beta Blurs Nude Images For Kids Using Messages App
Yet another lost battle in the war to keep kids from finding out what members of the opposite sex look like naked. In the war between kids and moralists and their firewalls my money will always be on the kids beating the firewall.
Should be a real "woot" considering (Score:2)
To bad we cant get them to hose the sound and blur the screen every time an ad is displayed. You know! to protect the children.
And now (Score:2)
Can I use it to blur ugly old politician pusses?
So, Apple is still scanning photos... (Score:2)
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... what else is Apple doing with the scanning?
As TFS said, they are doing nothing with them.
Plus, as TFS also said, the analysis is done On-Device.
Stop trying to assign nefarious motives to everything Apple does.
Great new feature (Score:1)
Feature designed by psychologically damaged adults (Score:2)