> Capability has been there already, for very long time.
Capability was always there but it wasn't implemented. Now arguments like excessive battery drain or processor usage or any argument they could have come up with can no longer be used since they went ahead and implemented software that scans iPhone files.
Perceptual hashing is a mere detail of how they are scanning files TODAY. Same for scanning only files which are to be sent to iCloud, a mere detail that can be changed anytime and surely will be requested by tyrants around the world.
I think you missunderstood a bit what I said. Capability was there, already as implemented, for example as Neural Nets which categorizes your photos, by scanning all of them. Detecting faces and giving them names. So on.
Even your Files app scans all of your files, and probably collects some metadata for iCloud sync process.
This just proves that people don’t understand much about technology in depth. Capability has been there already, for very long time.
99% of their work has gone for implementing that perceptual hashing function and their PSI system.
If you want to give excuses, there will be always more. But they are not reasons to prevent this pandora box.