Apple could soon be forced to give away all your encrypted data to the UK government
The UK issued the order under the controversial Investigatory Powers Act. Now, experts fear Meta and Google could be the next target, warning against mass surveillance.
UK authorities want to force Apple to break its end-to-end encryption protections and allow it to spy on all data stored by users worldwide in its cloud storage service.
The Washington Post was the first to report on the undisclosed order the Big Tech Giant supposedly received last month.
People familiar with the matter told the publication that Apple is likely to stop offering encrypted storage in the UK, rather than undermine the privacy and security promised by its services. Yet, this may not be enough for Apple to completely avoid the requirement to comply with encryption backdoor demands in other countries.
Issued under the controversial 2016 Investigatory Powers Act, the UK order adds to ongoing pressures in Europe and beyond to create backdoors in encrypted software that could facilitate law enforcement's criminal investigations. Technologists and privacy experts, however, have long argued how this would undermine citizens' overall security while fueling indiscriminate mass surveillance. After Apple, they now fear Meta and Google could become the UK's next target.
UK's encryption backdoor request
The UK notice targets all encrypted content iPhone, iPad, and macOS users across the world have stored using Apple's Advanced Data Protection (ADP).
While this isn't a default feature, users can manually enable this protection for extra privacy and security to encrypt all the stored data. This means that not even Apple itself can access these files. It's worth mentioning that the FBI also expressed concerns about this feature when it launched in 2022.
So far, Apple, and even the UK Home Office, have declined to share comments on the matter, with the latter saying it does not confirm or deny the existence of such notice.
Deemed Snooper Chart by its critics, the Investigatory Power Act allows law enforcement "to compel assistance from companies when needed to collect evidence," said an anonymous Washington Post source reportedly close to the matter.
Worse still, among other things, last year's proposed amendment to the law seeks to require all tech companies to ask for approval from the Home Office before adding new security or privacy features, encryption included. At the time, Apple strongly criticized the proposal, arguing it "would undermine fundamental human rights."
