The default setting for iCloud Photos is non-e2ee, which allows US federal police access to every photo you have ever taken or saved without a warrant/probable cause.
The photos also likely have EXIF GPS data and timestamps, so it's also a track log of location history.
> which allows US federal police access to every photo you have ever taken or saved without a warrant/probable cause
I'm aware of that, though it's no different from any other US based cloud provider. I am however a citizen of the EU, so there's the EU/US safe harbor (or Schrems II) agreement in place.
In the end it all comes down to trust vs convenience. I trust Apple more than Amazon or Google, and about as much as Microsoft. Apple keeps my data on EU soil, and is a lot more convenient on Apple platforms. Microsoft sends all OneDrive data to the US.
I do however use Advanced Data Protection for iCloud, which e2e encrypts photos and others. All backups, including local ones, are source encrypted.
the point of immich and photoprism is that you host them on your computer, on your own network and it never goes through those centralized entities in the first place.
The photos also likely have EXIF GPS data and timestamps, so it's also a track log of location history.