‘UK government demands backdoor access to encrypted data on Apple devices’

The government of the United Kingdom has secretly ordered Apple to create a backdoor that could be used to access users’ end-to-end encrypted backups and other data that is stored on Apple devices.

That’s what anonymous sources tell The Washington Post and the BBC.

Backups aren’t protected by end-to-end encryption by default. However, by using a feature called Advanced Data Protection (ADP), Apple makes sure only account holders can access data that is stored on their account. If enabled, not even Apple is able to access users’ data.

The order made by the UK authorities would mean Apple will have to create a backdoor to view encrypted data.

According to government officials who spoke under the condition of anonymity, the government would only want to access this data if there were a risk or threat to the country’s national security. Authorities would still have to request permission and go through a legal process to access a specific account.

There’s a chance Apple will stop offering end-to-end encryption in the United Kingdom, sources told the US newspaper. The Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), which is used to demand the creation of a backdoor, compels firms to provide information to law enforcement agencies. Apple can appeal against the UK government’s demand, but cannot delay implementing the ruling during the process, even if it is eventually overturned, the BBC states.

Human rights groups are appalled by the UK government’s demand. Rebecca Vincent, Interim Director of the privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, calls it “an unprecedented attack on privacy rights that has no place in any democracy”.

“We all want the government to be able to effectively tackle crime and terrorism, but breaking encryption will not make us safer. Instead, it will erode the fundamental rights and civil liberties of the entire population, and it will not stop with Apple,” she warns.

Vincent, therefore, is asking the UK government to rescind the “draconian order” and cease any attempts to employ mass surveillance.

Caroline Wilson Palow, Privacy International’s Legal Director, has called the order ‘disproportionate and unnecessary.’

“The UK government has apparently decided to pull the trigger on one of its most intrusive and potentially damaging surveillance powers: its ability to force companies to remove security and privacy protections for their users worldwide. As it has long threatened, the UK has finally moved against Apple in an attempt to undermine end-to-end encryption. This is a fight the UK should not have picked,” she says.

The UK’s Home Office told the BBC it would not comment on operational matters.