UK Government has a second attempt to force Apple to give up users backup data
The Chinese, sorry, UK government has renewed its war with Apple and The White House demanding a back door into the tech company’s cloud storage service but this time it's for UK users only.
Despite only a matter of weeks ago seeing Keir Starmer sitting in the Oval Office assuring the world that free speech is alive and well in the UK and explaining how they wouldn’t want to overreach on US citizens or companies whilst simultaneously trying to gain access to all users worldwide backup data on the Apple platform behind their backs, he has been caught with his digital lying pants on yet again.
Initially the Home Office had secretly sought back door access to users backup data on Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) service from any user around the world, but Apple let the cat out of the bag when Tim Cook went to see Trump in the Whitehouse to discuss the demands and it was covered by press worldwide.
The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the government is having another go with a Technical Capability Notice (TCN), again seeking access to the encrypted cloud backups of British citizens.
A Home Office spokesperson said the department did not comment on operational matters not “confirming or denying the existence of any such notices”. A spokesperson added: “We will always take all actions necessary at the domestic level to keep UK citizens safe.”
Tulsi Gabbard, the US Director of National Intelligence, said in August the UK had backed down on demanding access to US customer data. Donald Trump had described the access demand as “something that you hear about with China”.
Apple did not comment on the FT report directly, but said it was “gravely disappointed” that it could not offer ADP – an optional extra layer of security – to UK customers and reiterated that it would never build a backdoor into its products and it never should.
ADP uses end-to-end encryption, meaning only the account holder can decrypt files such as documents and photos – and no one else can, not even Apple themselves.
“Apple remains committed to offering our users the highest level of security for their personal data and are hopeful that we will be able to do so in the future in the United Kingdom. As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will,” said the company.
Apple had appealed against the first TCN via the investigatory powers tribunal, which investigates whether the domestic intelligence services have acted unlawfully. The Home Office had sought to keep details of the case secret from the public and it’s users but after a judgment in April some information was released confirming Apple’s appeal.
Privacy International, who launched a legal challenge against the first TCN, said this new order “may be just as big a threat to worldwide security and privacy as the old one”. It said if Apple is forced to break end-to-end encryption in the UK it will in effect break it for everyone by creating a vulnerability in its systems.
“The resulting vulnerability can be exploited by hostile states, criminals and other bad actors the world over,” a spokesman said.
