I actually think something else happened, and to be honest I think many at Apple behind this decision are likely pretty surprised by the blowback.
That is, it seems like Apple really wanted to preserve "end-to-end" encryption, but they needed to do something to address the CSAM issue lest governments come down on them hard. Thus, my guess is, at least at the beginning, they saw this as a strong win for privacy. As the project progressed, however, it's like they missed "the forest for the trees" and didn't quite realize that their plan to protect end-to-end encryption doesn't mean that much if one "end" is now forced to run tech that can be abused by governments.
This kind of thing isn't that uncommon with large companies. To me it seems very similar to the Netflix Qwikster debacle of a decade ago. Netflix could very clearly see the writing on the wall, that the DVD-by-mail business needed to morph into a streaming business. But they fumbled the implementation, and what largely came across to the public was "you're raising prices by 40%."
I give Netflix huge props for actually reversing the decision pretty quickly - I find that exceptionally rare among large corporations. Remains to be seen if Apple will do the same.
That is, it seems like Apple really wanted to preserve "end-to-end" encryption, but they needed to do something to address the CSAM issue lest governments come down on them hard. Thus, my guess is, at least at the beginning, they saw this as a strong win for privacy. As the project progressed, however, it's like they missed "the forest for the trees" and didn't quite realize that their plan to protect end-to-end encryption doesn't mean that much if one "end" is now forced to run tech that can be abused by governments.
This kind of thing isn't that uncommon with large companies. To me it seems very similar to the Netflix Qwikster debacle of a decade ago. Netflix could very clearly see the writing on the wall, that the DVD-by-mail business needed to morph into a streaming business. But they fumbled the implementation, and what largely came across to the public was "you're raising prices by 40%."
I give Netflix huge props for actually reversing the decision pretty quickly - I find that exceptionally rare among large corporations. Remains to be seen if Apple will do the same.