Apple Urged by Civil Liberties Groups to Scrap Scanning Feature

A coalition of more than 90 technology and civil liberties groups is urging Apple Inc. to scrap its plans to deploy a machine learning algorithm that scans images for child sexual abuse material.

The capability, which was unveiled earlier this month and would be built into Apple products, threatens the privacy and security of people worldwide, the coalition argued in a Thursday letter sent to CEO Tim Cook.

“Once this backdoor feature is built in, governments could compel Apple to extend notification to other accounts, and to detect images that are objectionable for reasons other than being sexually explicit,” wrote …