I think the realistic danger here is the US Government no longer needs to compel this type of activity. Reference Twitter and Facebook/Instagram voluntarily censorship per mere suggestion of the current administration/power party.
Let's be practical for a minute. What specific image would Apple voluntarily search for on behalf of the US Government? I sincerely can't think of anything.
Images, leaked government files, anti-administration phrases, unflattering memes of the president, statements that contradict the government's current stance, etc.
All things current at social media companies seem willing to censor after suggestion of the administration.
Why not? Facebook and Twitter have done exactly that in the past year. Why is it far fetched for Apple suddenly, given this amazing reverse-course on branding?
The only realistic alternative to Apple is Android... And Google is pretty darn transparent in their spying on users. Apple just did a 180 degree about-face on all the branding they've built over the last decade. Why should anyone trust Apple again?
Look, this whole neural-hash thing took what, 2 weeks for people to fabricate collisions? This just illustrated how poorly conceived and ill-thought the entire plan was from Apple. It's not beyond reason to assume any of these things given the evidence we currently have.
