I felt the same for WhatsApp backups on Google Drive, which are addressed in the article. I thought FB was advertising an encryption while letting some obvious backdoor for the NSA.
But the backups are encrypted, according to co-workers and to that post. Maybe I should enable backups now.
Apple already implemented a solution to scan content on your Device before it gets encrypted and sent to the cloud (Communication Safety feature) that is sitting in your phone since iOS 15.2. So, they don't need to have a look at your encrypted iCloud Backups, theoretically, they could always look at it on your device before it gets encrypted and shipped to the cloud.
They promise that none of those scans or resulting data leaves your device, but since it's a closed source platform, and you have no way to verify that claim independently, it all boils down to a single question.
Do you trust Apple?
If you can answer that question with yes, then making the most of the new security features is a no-brainer, as they significantly lower the risk of your data leaking in the cloud in case their servers get hacked or simply human error on their part.
If you can answer that question with no, don't own Apple devices.
I hated Android devices because they were deprecated pretty quickly (android 2.3 lasted for a while. After that, Android phones basically became burners with poor app support beyond 2 years) But I didn't own Apple devices because I didn't like Apple
Now if they want you to choose between scanning your data offline and sending it unencrypted to the cloud, I still don't like Apple (I can backup some data on Android with a USB cord, on my PC, and that's ok) Anyway, they said they were axing the plan to scan your data (so far)
Nowadays I'm happy with phones that run derivatives of LineageOS. They do the best of both worlds (long term support and trust)
Don’t they hire John Callas in like 1997? ;-)
(Sorry, couldn’t resist a bit of good natured ribbing.)
