Google has been doing this with their cloud services since at least 2014 (from a quick google search) and Facebook at least 2011. From talking with a founder of a popular image service, this was a requirement a decade ago, for liability reasons.
I don't think you quite understand what Apple is doing.
This is absolutely going to lead to deeper use of this kind of anti-encryption tech. third party doctrine loophole to the 4th amendment -- pretty soon every document on your PC will be crosschecked for a litany of things the government deems illegal.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but it's scanning cloud hosted images, correct?
> allow Apple to detect known CSAM images stored in iCloud Photos. ... Apple only learns about users’ photos if they have a collection of known CSAM in their iCloud Photos account.
The only non-cloud hosted scan is for child accounts, with Apple getting no access, just transferring the warning to the parent.
