On: Apple in China: who holds the keys?

[abalone]

Actually iOS does notify you when another device has joined your trust circle. So if you pay attention to that you’d know you’re being monitored. Suppressing that would need a crafted OS pushed to the device.

iMessage is very secure. The real question is what would China do if it takes off (no one uses it there).

[ec109685 → abalone]

If you are talking to person A and they get a new phone, how do you know that happened?

[abalone → ec109685]

You don't, and it would arguably violate their privacy if you did. But they do.

[ec109685 → abalone]

What stops Apple telling your iMessage that person A got a new phone but not telling person A it is telling your iMessage that?

[abalone → ec109685]

See earlier comment re: Apple as the adversary.