UK Court Rejects Government Secrecy in Apple's Fight Against Backdoor Request

[MacRumors]

Apple has filed a legal appeal against a UK government order requiring the company to create a "back door" to its encrypted cloud storage systems, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) confirmed on Monday (via Reuters). The confirmation means that the Home Office cannot keep all the details of its demand out of the public domain.

The high-profile challenge follows reports earlier this year that the UK used its Investigatory Powers Act to demand secret access to encrypted user data uploaded to iCloud worldwide. Apple responded by removing its Advanced Data Protection feature from the UK rather than compromising its security standards.

According to the IPT ruling, the British government had sought to keep details of the case private. The Home Office argued that publicizing the existence of the appeal could damage national security, but Judges Rabinder Singh and Jeremy Johnson rejected this claim.

"It would have been a truly extraordinary step to conduct a hearing entirely in secret without any public revelation of the fact that a hearing was taking place," the judges wrote in their decision. "For the reasons that are set out in our private judgement, we do not accept that the revelation of the bare details of the case would be damaging to the public interest or prejudicial to national security."

Monday's ruling follows a hearing in London in March, which was held in secret.

Apple previously made it clear that it would pull ‌iCloud‌ features from the UK rather than compromise its user security, and while that only extends to Advanced Data Protection right now, it could lead to key features like FaceTime and iMessage being removed in the country. The UK wants backdoor access to ‌iCloud‌ data to fight terrorism and investigate child sex abuse.

The UK's order was particularly controversial as it would have required Apple to provide access to data from users outside the UK without their governments' knowledge. Additionally, the IPA makes it illegal for companies to disclose the existence of such government demands.

The US government is reportedly investigating whether the UK's demand violates the CLOUD Act, which prevents the UK from requesting data from US citizens.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: UK Court Rejects Government Secrecy in Apple's Fight Against Backdoor Request

 

[N0ughtsAndCr0sses]

Grabbing popcorn 🍿

 

[TechWhisperer]

Give ‘em hell, Apple!

 

[JonathanParker]

Tear them apart Apple

 

[Jxdawg]

I could not be more happy with this.

 

[JosephAW]

Next it’ll be a back door to your iPhone 📱

 

[kiranmk2]

As soon as the US government backed off the same thing (getting backdoor access to encrypted messaging) and actually started backing end-to-end encryption, the UKs efforts to get this implemented fell from iffy to not a chance.

 

[nikon1]

I just hope this goes down in massive flames. I can almost see the current US “president” hearing about this and reviving the US demands for a universal backdoor so he can continue his “destroy / maim / kill” actions on his perceived enemies during this 4 year journey through Dante’s Inferno!”

Stand Tall & Tough, Apple. We are counting on you!

 

[0049190]

I hope this issue is resolved quickly as it seems to stir up a lot of angry and unnecessary comments.

 

[surferfb]

Good news!

 

[DrJR]

Back door doesn’t have a “welcome” mat!

 

[macfacts]

No courage to pull out of UK. The greed for money is too great. Nintendo isn't selling the switch 2 in USA for now, and Nike has said they are not building factories in USA.

 

[con2apple]

Back door doesn’t have a “welcome” mat!

But terrorists! And children! Nobody thinks about protecting children!

Yes, backdoors are very popular and 2 out of 3 users are in favor of them. Only because of the lies of the media and government, but they advocate "security keys that only the government knows (promised) to protect children and stop terrorists“.

Which is why the EU wants to introduce backdoors. Integrated directly into users' devices.

Chat Control: The EU's CSAM scanner proposal

🇫🇷 French: Traduction du dossier Chat Control 2.0 🇸🇪 Swedish: Chat Control 2.0🇳🇱 Dutch: Chatcontrole The End of the Privacy of Digital Correspondence Take action to stop Chat Control now! The Chat Control 2.0 proposal in detail Changes proposed by the European Parliament

www.patrick-breyer.de

 

[0049190]

No courage to pull out of UK. The greed for money is too great. Nintendo isn't selling the switch 2 in USA for now, and Nike has said they are not building factories in USA.

Why would they pull out of the U.K.? This issue doesn’t affect sales of Apple products in the U.K. and doesn’t cost Apple any money. It’s a storm in a teacup.

 

[DrJR]

But terrorists! And children! Nobody thinks about protecting children!

Yes, backdoors are very popular and 2 out of 3 users are in favor of them. Only because of the lies of the media and government, but they advocate "security keys that only the government knows (promised) to protect children and stop terrorists“.

Which is why the EU wants to introduce backdoors. Integrated directly into users' devices.

Chat Control: The EU's CSAM scanner proposal

🇫🇷 French: Traduction du dossier Chat Control 2.0 🇸🇪 Swedish: Chat Control 2.0🇳🇱 Dutch: Chatcontrole The End of the Privacy of Digital Correspondence Take action to stop Chat Control now! The Chat Control 2.0 proposal in detail Changes proposed by the European Parliament

www.patrick-breyer.de

Europe hasn’t guarded its own back door so well. No thanks.

 

[Joshuaorange]

No courage to pull out of UK. The greed for money is too great. Nintendo isn't selling the switch 2 in USA for now, and Nike has said they are not building factories in USA.

Nike not building factories here is also greed.

 

[raziel101]

I just hope this goes down in massive flames. I can almost see the current US “president” hearing about this and reviving the US demands for a universal backdoor so he can continue his “destroy / maim / kill” actions on his perceived enemies during this 4 year journey through Dante’s Inferno!”

Stand Tall & Tough, Apple. We are counting on you!

Don’t fool yourself into thinking Apple truly cares about us consumers.

 

[mazz0]

No courage to pull out of UK. The greed for money is too great. Nintendo isn't selling the switch 2 in USA for now, and Nike has said they are not building factories in USA.

The words “courage” and “greed” make no sense in this context. They’re a capitalist business, their job is to make money, not moral points. Businesses are greedy by definition.

Nintendo isn’t taking a stand against anything, they’re just not taking *preorders* now because of the volatility - it makes absolute sense to hold off on exchange of money until the last minute so you’re making the most informed pricing decision. This isn’t any more courageous or any less greedy than Apple’s stance, it’s all just businesses doing what they think will make them the most money.

 

[iLondoner]

I don't support my government (in the UK) in this devious attempt to gain access to personal files. And asking for access to all cloud files worldwide is beyond belief!

In any case, I believe Apple is the closest thing to the 'old' Hewlett-Packard trustworthy culture (before Carly Fiorini tore the 'HP Way' apart), so my gut reaction would be to support whatever stance it takes.

Ref: https://www.latimes.com/local/abcar...orina-trashed-the-hp-way-20150923-column.html

 

[fenderbass146]

No courage to pull out of UK. The greed for money is too great. Nintendo isn't selling the switch 2 in USA for now, and Nike has said they are not building factories in USA.

Nintendo delayed pre-orders to see how the tariffs play out...that is not the same thing as not selling the switch in the USA....just stop.

Why would Apple pull out of the UK. The only way that happens is if the UK says they can't sell their devices here. Apple will continue to sell as they should

 

[macfacts]

Why would they pull out of the U.K.? This issue doesn’t affect sales of Apple products in the U.K. and doesn’t cost Apple any money. It’s a storm in a teacup.

If they pull out, then they don't have to have any backdoor.

 

[macfacts]

The words “courage” and “greed” make no sense in this context. They’re a capitalist business, their job is to make money, not moral points. Businesses are greedy by definition.

Nintendo isn’t taking a stand against anything, they’re just not taking *preorders* now because of the volatility - it makes absolute sense to hold off on exchange of money until the last minute so you’re making the most informed pricing decision. This isn’t any more courages or any less greedy than Apple’s stance, it’s all just businesses doing what they think will make them the most money.

Trump is trying to force companies like Nintendo to build factories in USA. If Nintendo doesn't build factories in USA, that is "taking a stand"

 

[mazz0]

Trump is trying to force companies like Nintendo to build factories in USA. If Nintendo doesn't build factories in USA, that is "taking a stand"

Not doing what Trump wants isn't necessarily taking a stand.

Not doing what Trump wants even if it would be in your financial interests to do so, long term, would be taking a stand.

Not doing what Trump wants because you don't believe, long term, that it would be in your financial interests is not taking a stand, it's just doing business.

I highly doubt Nintendo would do the former.

 

[lkrupp]

Next it’ll be a back door to your iPhone 📱

As long as I can swap out the battery I’m okay with a back door on my iPhone. 🥸🤡

 

[lkrupp]

I hope this issue is resolved quickly as it seems to stir up a lot of angry and unnecessary comments.

Every tech blog on the planet has devolved into political commentary now.