Surprised that "<i>a</i>" Media followed through. All other media brushed it off as tragic, rare, database corruptions as mentioned in release notes etc. I wish someone could tell me how a corrupted DB would have old deleted photos resurface, going as far back as 10+ years.<p>From a company that claim themselves as defender of Privacy is a Fundamental Human Right (when they see fit, i.e let's ignore China).<p>This is from Victoria Song, but given The Verge still published it I am going to give them some credit as well. Strange as Apple's PR machine doesn't seems to be working. But you can also pick up all the other media who had Apple's PR influence.<p>And for those who still dont know, you should read The Submarine from Paul Graham<p><a href="https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html" rel="nofollow">https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html</a>.
I wonder if the database corruption stemmed from the job responsible for deleting photos after approximately 40 days. This job likely involves two main steps: (1) deleting the actual file and (2) updating the database. At guess, in some rare cases, step (2) might occur even if step (1) fails. Could this issue have arisen because step (1) occasionally failed due to changes in iOS's security model over the years? Did the photos reappear when the database was rebuilt or reindexed from files stored on the device?<p>With the messaging based hacks exploiting images encoders, pdfs etc it seems plausible to me that they added some protections that could have made file I/O more sandboxed and accidentally over-sandboxed it in some scenarios and the error codes weren't being checked.
I have had instances where previously "archived" photos reappeared among my regular photos on Android devices. It's a faith-shattering moment. Let's face it, most of us have some amount of photos or screenshots we don't want unexpectedly popping up when other people may be able to see them. In my case, it may have been user error resulting from the confusing interplay between my camera app, the default Samsung photo album, and Google Photos. I guess. Ultimately, I removed permissions for accessing photos from every app except for Google Photos to reduce the chance for confusion.<p>Does anyone have a simple, cross-platform solution for storing (yet easily accessing) private photos and videos? Or do most people just resort to living dangerously?
If I recall correctly from messing around via dev tools, deleting contacts from my android phone just "soft deletes" them as well. It might not have been contacts but there was something in a database I did not expect to be there. I feel like this kind of stuff would be an actual scandal as recently as 2010 but we've just accepted living in a panopticon and false ownership of tech.
Related:<p><i>Apple Releases iOS 17.5.1 with Fix for Reappearing Photos Bug</i><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40426557">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40426557</a><p><i>Troubling iOS 17.5 Bug Reportedly Resurfacing Old Deleted Photos</i><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40366091">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40366091</a><p><i>iOS 17.5 is allegedly resurfacing pictures that were deleted years ago</i><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40372867">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40372867</a>
If you were to assume a dystopian cause, you assume a bug accidentally revealed the nefarious plan, and the charitable view would assume a bug broke proper deletion of physical files when their db record was set for removal, or some such. Either way, we assume a bug. But, the conspiracy theory requires additional assumptions and is, all else being equal, less likely, overall.<p>I think the POV chosen, one way or the other, reveals an interesting bias, like that white/gold/blue dress. But I find this even more interesting because probably most of us here have worked at software companies as developers, and know personally how utterly normal unintentional bugs like a failed deletion bug would be, particularly if black-box QA is oblivious to it because everything seems fine. No company is immune, and Apple has had some pretty embarrassing bugs over the years.
> If anything, Apple ought to comment simply because it markets itself as a company that cares about your privacy.<p>The clue is in this sentence. The privacy is marketing.<p>Seeking an explanation from them reeks of coping desparation, but not unexpected if you have bought heavily into it. I'd say this could be a lesson for many, but looking at similar past incidents with them, I am not very hopeful.
My best guess is that they were on another device and they are syncing via iCloud and somehow the new iOS fixed a bug that was previously failing to resync photos that were only deleted locally.
Ehh. I really dislike this paragraph:<p>> Sure, you could push your glasses up your nose and say, “Well actually, no file is ever really deleted until it’s overwritten...” And while that is true, a reasonable customer would expect that when Apple says a deleted file is permanently deleted, this sort of thing shouldn’t even be possible.<p>You could stereotype it as well-actuallying, sure, but the reality is that "deleted files aren't actually deleted" has been the way computer storage has worked and still works, in the majority of cases, for a very, very long time. I don't disagree that a reasonable customer would expect that when they delete a file on their hard drive, it's gone forever. But if I were a writer for a tech publication, I don't think I could credibly write an article indignantly demanding an explanation for an undelete utility.
Apple was keeping shadow copies of files of pictures on iphones at least 10 years ago I witnessed myself that you couldn't access through conventional means (windows or mac, but linux worked), and I'm certain little has changed still but better hiding it.<p>If the US or China tells Apple to give them the contents of your phone now or ever, they damn well likely can and will. Same as Google or as Microsoft would.