It seems Apple only applies this if you sync photos to iCloud. Isn't the solution just to not use iCloud? I've personally never used iCloud sync for photos, am happy enough managing the files myself. Demanding that Apple allows you to use iCloud to host illegal pictures seems a bit entitled to me.
I am concerned about the slippery slope of if they start scanning files that were never going to go through their servers in the first place though.
One of the major concerns that I've seen arising around here is the question "what's stopping Apple from doing this even without iCloud?". Once you open Pandora's Box, there is not going back.
I am concerned about the slippery slope of if they start scanning files that were never going to go through their servers in the first place though.