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ChatGPT access to Apple Messages is dangerous and irresponsible (paulfwalsh.substack.com)
submitted 3 days ago by QuadernoFigurati@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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[-] Jacob93@sh.itjust.works 23 points 3 days ago

This is a rage bait headline. OpenAI has a plugin that you can give access to your messages. The claim that this is somehow different from any other use, or breaks some implied secrecy because it was encrypted, is nonsense. You never have control over what the person at the other end of a conversation does with that conversation and encryption was never meant to address that.

[-] 0_o7@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 days ago

This is a rage bait headline.

Yes, it is.

The claim that this is somehow different from any other use

You never have control over what the person at the other end of a conversation does

encryption was never meant to address that

I wonder why Apple stans never bring this up when calling it the most private operating system that "cares" about user "privacy" and "security" when they can just hand over your E2EE messages after it's decrypted, if a company has a "plugin".

Convenient, isn't it?

And if Apple has a plugin for OpenAI, think of what "plugins" the government has behind closed doors.

But stans never stop repeating the same "encryption", "privacy", "security" talking points when defending it.

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I wonder why Apple stans never bring this up when calling it the most private operating system that "cares" about user "privacy" and "security" when they can just hand over your E2EE messages after it's decrypted, if a company has a "plugin".

I don’t really understand what the point is you’re trying to make here.

What does Apple have to do with what somebody you’re sending texts to does with the texts you sent them? What is any company supposed to do about that?

[-] Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com -2 points 2 days ago

Apple makes iOS updates. It isn't hard to block chatgpt from accessing those supposedly "private" messages.

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Why would they do that? That wouldn’t stop the person you’re texting from just copying and pasting your texts into ChatGPT directly, which is your actual problem. If you text somebody, no matter how “private” it is, you have to trust the person you’re texting because you’re giving them those texts and they can do whatever they want with them.

[-] Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 days ago

The blame is shifted to the person for airing their private texts then if they copy-paste the messages into ChatGPT.

Otherwise, the blame is on Apple, who made the decision of sharing the texts.

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

No… the blame is shifted to the person for sharing their private texts in this scenario. The blame is on the person, who made the decision of sharing the texts…

Apple is uninvolved in the decision

[-] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

But has Apple ever allowed a third party cloud service to integrate with your text messages at the request of your best friend on their phone?

E2EE solves the Two Generals Problem. There’s also the issue of flat out letting the bad guys in.

[-] JiveTurkey@lemmy.world 29 points 3 days ago

So is trusting apple messages.

[-] umbrella@lemmy.ml 15 points 3 days ago

or apple at all in the first place

[-] bigbangdangler@reddthat.com 8 points 2 days ago

But they're different! They're so privacy focused! They care about their customers more than the other guy!

...and other such silliness I have heard on certain forums.

[-] Kevlar21@piefed.social 9 points 3 days ago

Not trying to be contrarian or argumentative with this, but apple claims that imessage is end to end encrypted and therefore not readable even by them. Do you have evidence to the contrary? Or am I missing some other aspect?

[-] speckofrust@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 3 days ago

From the article…

I want to make one technical point absolutely clear because several people have misunderstood my argument:

The encryption still works. OpenAl hasn't cracked or mathematically broken iMessage encryption. An iMessage remains encrypted between endpoints. The privacy problem occurs at the endpoint.

Once the message has been decrypted on the recipient's Mac, that recipient can authorise third party software to access the readable conversation. The encryption worked exactly as designed. It simply can't protect message content from software authorised to access it before or after decryption.

That's what I mean when I say this integration undermines the purpose of end to end encryption.

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

But it doesn’t undermine the purpose of end to end encryption? End to end encryption means it’s encrypted on one end and is decrypted on the other end, as opposed to being decrypted somewhere in the middle.

This problem doesn’t for anything to undermine end to end encryption at all? With E2EE you still have to trust the other end. If the person who is the other end installs a plugin that reads the texts you send them, that’s not really a technology problem it’s an OpSec problem.

[-] speckofrust@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago

I agree. It definitely does undermine the purpose of E2EE. I just wanted to let it be known that ChatGPT hasn’t actually broken the encryption algo.

Still, fuck Open AI, and any friend who would ever use AI to scan our Signal chats (if such a plugin is ever created) will be immediately cut off from chat comms.

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

It definitely does undermine the purpose of E2EE

It doesn’t undermine it at all is what I’m saying. The problem is just entirely unrelated to E2EE

[-] speckofrust@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 1 day ago

It doesn’t break the encryption, you’re right, though insofar as it makes the encryption irrelevant, I’d say it’s being undermined, but that’s just wordplay. The point is, fuck Open AI.

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It doesn’t make the encryption irrelevant nor is it undermined in any way.

The person on the other end that you’re choosing to communicate with is the weak link. It has nothing to do with encryption at all. They could do the exact same thing whether encrypted or not. E2EE is simply not a factor here at all

[-] Auli@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 days ago

The problem is Apple controls the keys.

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

You can enable Advanced Data Protection and Apple will no longer store the keys, however this is off by default and for something like an iMessage conversation both users would have to enable it for it to mean anything

[-] eremophila@lemmy.zip 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

chatgpt

apple

what could go wrong?

[-] Hirom@beehaw.org 6 points 3 days ago

ChatGPT ~~access to Apple Messages~~ is dangerous and irresponsible

[-] sudoer777@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 days ago

Depends on your threat model IMO, but I wouldn't use either of those services in particular

[-] ThatGuyNamedZeus@feddit.org 4 points 3 days ago

using apple devices is dangerous and irresponsible and I don't know how they're still in business after that bullshit they pulled in the UK

[-] elastichamster@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

What bullshit in the UK. Be specific and informative. You mean they discontinued the Advanced Data Protection, yeah it sucks. But the alternative was the UK government forcing them to create a back door, as part of Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which they rejected.

[-] ThatGuyNamedZeus@feddit.org 2 points 2 days ago

No, the age verification that they weren't actually obligated to do

[-] EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Because the only viable alternative is Google, who are objectively worse.

this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2026
128 points (96.4% liked)

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