Apple Threatens to Pull FaceTime and iMessage in the UK Over Proposed Surveillance Law Changes

[MacRumors]

Apple says it will pull services including FaceTime and iMessage in the UK if plans to amend surveillance legislation that would require tech companies to make major security and privacy changes go ahead (via BBC News).

The UK government is planning to update the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), which came into effect in 2016. The Act of Parliament allows the British Home Office to force technology companies to disable security features like end-to-end encryption without telling the public. The IPA also enables storage of internet browsing records and authorises the bulk collection of personal data in the UK. Due to the secrecy surrounding these demands, little is known about how many have been issued and complied with.

Currently, this process involves independent oversight via a review process and tech companies can appeal before having to comply. Under the proposed update to the IPA, disabling security features without informing the public would have to be immediate.

The UK government started an eight-week consultation process on the proposed amendments to the IPA open to professional bodies, interest groups, academia, and the wider public. Apple has submitted a nine-page-long document condemning many of the changes.

The company opposes the requirement to inform the Home Office of any changes to product security features before they are released, the requirement for non-UK-based companies to comply with changes that would affect their product globally, and having to take action immediately if a request to disable or block a feature is received from the Home Office without review or an appeals process.

Apple also highlighted that some requested feature changes would require a software update, so could not be implemented without public knowledge. The proposals "constitute a serious and direct threat to data security and information privacy" that would affect people outside the UK, Apple claims.

The company added that it would not make changes to security features specifically for one country that would weaken a product for all users, suggesting that services like FaceTime and iMessage will simply be removed in the UK if the amendments proceed.

Apple, WhatsApp, and Signal also oppose a clause in the UK's proposed Online Safety Bill that would allow its communications regulator to require companies to install technology to scan for CSAM in encrypted messaging apps and other services. Signal has threatened to leave the UK over the matter.

Article Link: Apple Threatens to Pull FaceTime and iMessage in the UK Over Proposed Surveillance Law Changes

 

[sniffies]

Soon N Korea will have more freedom than UK

 

[Rychiar]

the UK government sounds atrocious

 

[GuruZac]

Ah yes, ever invasive centralized governments pledging to do things in the name of safety and security at the cost of more and more of our freedom and privacy.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

The UK government is planning to update the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) 2016, which allows the Home Office to force tech companies to disable security features like end-to-end encryption without telling the public.

Make sense. If there was a situation that threatened the security of the public, they would have the power to investigate the guilty parties.

Historically Apple has shown that they’re unwilling to co-operate with unlocking phones for authorities. Can you blame the government for wanting to side-step them?

 

[mazz0]

the UK government sounds atrocious

It is.

 

[arcite]

Apple will cave eventually. Uk is a huge market they cannot lose.

 

[chenks]

they claim they would remove services, but the reality is they never would.

 

[mazz0]

Speaking as a Briton: good! I hope Apple stick to their guns on this. I’ll miss iMessage (and Signal, etc), but somebody needs to stand up to this authoritarianism.

 

[George Dawes]

The biggest threat to the British people is the establishment itself

 

[mazz0]

Apple will cave eventually. Uk is a huge market they cannot lose.

I’m quite an Apple fanboy, and this would make me more inclined to stick with Apple, rather than less.

 

[DrV]

The EU is a superpower in creating regulations and I — kind of — understand the will to get rid of all the bureaucracy and control. That was one of the brexiteers' strong arguments. Looking at this, it did not go too well, did it?

 

[klasma]

Apple will cave eventually. Uk is a huge market they cannot lose.

iMessage and FaceTime aren’t that popular in the UK, it’s not much of a factor in opting to buy Apple devices.

 

[Kazgarth]

Apple is doing all the brave work on behave of us for better privacy for humanity.

 

[chenks]

Hardly anyone uses iMessage in the UK, and FaceTime also isn’t used much.

any stats to back up that wild claim?

 

[CarAnalogy]

I remember the speech Clinton gave about the Internet opening up China, and how censorship would be impossible.

Now it seems the opposite has happened. Authoritarians have effectively clamped down on technology and used it against people, and instead of China opening up, other countries said “hey that’s pretty good, let’s be more like that!”

 

[CarAnalogy]

any stats to back up that wild claim?

I have anecdata from every thread that ever mentioned WhatsApp with dozens of Europeans chiming in to say “who uses SMS and iMessage? Everyone uses WhatsApp!”

 

[Kazgarth]

Hardly anyone uses iMessage in the UK, and FaceTime also isn’t used much.

This law doesn't only affect iMessage, but also WhatsApp, Signal and every app with E2E encryption.

 

[ForkHandles]

This is the most illiberal UK government we have ever endured. They break things, they lie, they remove our freedoms.

It is now illegal to protest in the UK now ffs. The majority of the press here enjoy lucrative government advertising contracts so are virtually nothing more than mouthpieces.

 

[klasma]

any stats to back up that wild claim?

I probably overstated, edited my comment.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Make sense. If there was a situation that threatened the security of the public, they would have the power to investigate the guilty parties.

Historically Apple has shown that they’re unwilling to co-operate with unlocking phones for authorities. Can you blame the government for wanting to side-step them?

Yes. Governments already have the power to compel Apple to do things. Apple doesn’t have to sit back and let the governments make them do even more.

If you’re referring to the San Bernadino shooter, the FBI didn’t just want that phone’s data. They wanted Apple to make a version of iOS that skips the lock screen that they could then install on any iPhone to unlock it. Apple refused to do that. They cooperated in many other ways.

 

[chenks]

I have anecdata from every thread that ever mentioned WhatsApp with dozens of Europeans chiming in to say “who uses SMS and iMessage? Everyone uses WhatsApp!”

so no stats then, thanks for confirming it was a wild and inaccurate claim

 

[Crispy Duck]

The current Conservative government in the UK is the most self-serving and corrupt in history.

 

[contacos]

and soon after people will suddenly start falling out of balconies or die in a car crash

 

[chenks]

The current Conservative government in the UK is the most self-serving and corrupt in history.

that is said about pretty much every UK government though be it Conservative or Labour.
just depends which newspaper you are reading at the time.