Report: UK Issues Unprecedented Demand for Apple Data

The UK has reportedly issued a demand to Apple that is so secret it would be illegal for the company to reveal it. The Washington Post, citing several people briefed on the situation, reports that the British government has ordered Apple to create a "back door" that would allow authorities to view the encrypted cloud data of Apple users worldwide. The order "requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies," the Post reports.

• The demand: According to the Post's sources, Apple received a document last month called a "technical capability notice" ordering it to provide access to the data under the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, which critics have dubbed the "Snooper's Charter."
• Secrecy: It's illegal for companies to disclose that the government has made a request under the act, the Verge reports. If Apple complies with the demand, it will not be allowed to disclose that files encrypted in its Advanced Data Protection service are no longer fully secure. Files currently encrypted through the opt-in service, which Apple rolled out in 2022, can only be read by the user, not Apple. Meta and Google, which also offer encrypted backups, declined to say whether they had received similar demands. "We do not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any such notices," the UK's Home Office said.

• Change wouldn't enable surveillance: The UK—and the FBI—argue that encryption makes it easier for terrorists and child abusers to operate. The BBC reports that under the UK law, authorities would still have to follow a legal process and request data on specific users instead of carrying out mass surveillance.
• Apple is unlikely to comply: Last year, Apple warned that the law "could force a company like Apple, which would never build a back door into its products, to publicly withdraw critical security features from the UK market, depriving UK users of these protections." The demand, however, applies to data from users worldwide.
• A 'damaging precedent:' "This overreach sets a damaging precedent and may also encourage abusive regimes around the world to take similar actions," Privacy International said in a post on X. The charity called it an "unprecedented attack" on people's private data.

(More Apple stories.)