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UK May Backtrack on Controversial Demand for Backdoor to Encrypted Apple User Data

From reading around this story here in the UK, it looks like the now very embarrassed Home Office is looking for a way for this to "go away". Seems they are still making noises about pressing ahead, but only to save face. An action was brought against them by Apple - a tribunal hearing regarding its use of the Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA). I suspect they are waiting for that court action to find that they overreached and that their request of Apple was improper/unlawful, and then they can claim that "they disagree with but will respect the courts decision" and then let it quietly die.

This was a stupid project from start. It would not have given any benefit in the fight against organised crime and terrorism, but would instead have significantly weakened all our data protections. Idiotic. I'm so glad this appears to be finally getting sorted out.
 
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mazz0 said:
My instinctive reaction is "good", because what the government was asking for sounds bad.

But realistically, how do any of us actually know that such backdoors don't already exist? I'd assume anybody with genuinely sensitive data isn't simply trusting Apple on this, and has taken steps of their own to secure their backups elsewhere.
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We don’t “know” that such backdoors don’t already exist (china!-cough!-china!). However, there is reason to assume they don’t.
Apple has promoted itself as a privacy brand to such an extent that now, if it ever leaked out that they had an undisclosed back door for something they claimed they didn’t, their credibility would be ravaged and no one would believe a word they said about anything. The company would probably never be able to come back from it.

In other words, imagine what happened with Apple Intelligence x 1,000.
 
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Will Co said:
It would not have given any benefit in the fight against organised crime and terrorism, but would instead have significantly weakened all our data protections.
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This is exactly what anyone with any sense and knowledge was saying in 2015/2016 when the Tories were developing the legislation that enables this nonsense.

It’s essentially a dragnet enabling mass surveillance of everyone and everything in the hope that something useful might pop out.

Of course, any real criminal or terrorist will simply use an encrypted method of communication that isn’t subject to the legislation, so it all falls apart. But of course they knew that at the time too.
 
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dannys1 said:
I mean it's VERY easy to do this with any network connected drive. You can buy any off the shelf NAS and let TimeMachine backup to it (and copy whatever else you want over to it...locked and encrypted if you want)
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I'm thinking a product for those without a Mac who just wants it all taken care of without thinking about it.
 
tridley68 said:
No back doors period I want my information safe. Stay strong Apple.
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Cloud should only really be thought of as a last resort and not a failsafe. None of the providers are any safer than the others to hacks and things. Even Apple got breached in the past. Delete an image from your phone and it's done from iCloud.

The only real way to keep your information safe is to back everything up locally to a non-web connected drive.
 
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Cute to think governments and their intelligence services are idiots. Having backdoors to iCloud sounds far reaching though. Think if Nigel Farage, Le Pen, AFD got elected and had the same vindictive nature as Trump.
 
iPadified said:
Cute to think governments and their intelligence services are idiots. Having backdoors to iCloud sounds far reaching though. Think if Nigel Farage, Le Pen, AFD got elected and had the same vindictive nature as Trump.
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Okay then, so this idea with the backdoors was a brilliant 11-dimensional chess move.

For a government and its services, it's already enough to drag the whole thing down if the people at the top are clueless. I would highly doubt that this idiocy was recommended by the experts they hired, but rather by a desire to sound good to clueless constituents.
 
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I really hope they do. This law feels like it has been made out of fear by lawmakers who don't understand technology. Backdoors are always bad. Counter-terrorism and child protection are really important, but to think that a backdoor in Apple's systems would solve this is just wishful thinking. Those that want to hide things will just move (and may not even use the service).

I like the analogy of securing your house. You install good locks for your doors and windows, keep them closed and locked when you're out, ensure you only give keys to your family, and have a robust security camera system. But then when you go out, you hide a key underneath a flower pot near the front door.

It doesn't matter how good your locks are, that one misstep means a robber snooping for a short period of time could breach the whole system and gain entry. Doesn't matter how good your locks are at that point. And great, you have security cameras, but they only tell you that you got robbed, and might help you determine who it was, but it doesn't secure your house.

This law suggests that every account would have a key under the doormat.

I talk to non-techy friends and family about it and they often will shrug and say 'who cares'. I think it's easy when it's seen as just 'data'. A good analogy is their bag/backpack. Would they want a stranger rooting through that, especially without their knowledge? Whilst the things within it be 'generic', their specific selection and combination, their placement, and the fact that it's tied to them makes it suddenly very different. Usually there's nothing to hide in there, but you normally wouldn't want a stranger to know its contents, especially unknowingly?

I have been really hoping this gets overturned. I wasn't sure whether Apple was the first big tech company that the government pursued, or whether others just quietly agreed, but I am glad that they took a stand with it.
 
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Ctrlos said:
Cloud should only really be thought of as a last resort and not a failsafe. None of the providers are any safer than the others to hacks and things. Even Apple got breached in the past. Delete an image from your phone and it's done from iCloud.

The only real way to keep your information safe is to back everything up locally to a non-web connected drive.
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Yes but it's a balance between cost and convenience as usual.
 
They can identify people posting memes and imprison them. Meanwhile, why do they allow undocumented people in if they are concerned for terrorism, and why don’t they begin an enquiry to the 250,000 ***** if they are concerned about children? Their words and actions don’t align.
 
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Smartuser said:
I would highly doubt that this idiocy was recommended by the experts they hired, but rather by a desire to sound good to clueless constituents.
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I think you have far too high thoughts about our politicians inventiveness and capabilities. It is most likely something that was carefully researched by numerous highly educated people (intel, jura, IT) who then served a set of solution options to politicians to solve the problem that was/is that Apple platform is used by criminals.

So voters as "clueless constituents"? Are you perhaps not a voter?
 
cocky jeremy said:
You can back down against Apple on your own, or the US government can make you. Up to you to save face or not..
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No wonder EU are taking strides to get rid of US IT services. Security risk, too costly and apparent need to follow US law and the whim of the current US president. Good business model that. Not.
 
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Ctrlos said:
I'm thinking a product for those without a Mac who just wants it all taken care of without thinking about it.
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Again any off the shelf NAS - i'm pretty sure Windows has options, they make some really simple cheap single disk ones now you can just pick up from your local electrical store.
 
iPadified said:
I think you have far too high thoughts about our politicians inventiveness and capabilities. It is most likely something that was carefully researched by numerous highly educated people (intel, jura, IT) who then served a set of solution options to politicians to solve the problem that was/is that Apple platform is used by criminals.

So voters as "clueless constituents"? Are you perhaps not a voter?
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Some real galaxy brains dreamt up those “solutions” then. Additionally, most voters are absolutely clueless on things outside their expertise.
 
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iPadified said:
No wonder EU are taking strides to get rid of US IT services. Security risk, too costly and apparent need to follow US law and the whim of the current US president. Good business model that. Not.
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Yes, how dare they tell the UK to knock off that sh…rewdly thought out backdoor concept.
 
dannys1 said:
Again any off the shelf NAS - i'm pretty sure Windows has options, they make some really simple cheap single disk ones now you can just pick up from your local electrical store.
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Oh for sure. I'm just thinking about the mass market Apple sells most of their products to. They'd create some slick software layer to automate the home backup process or something.
 
H2SO4 said:
Now you're getting serious. Pray tell me how exactly is Starmer a Nazi?
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Fatboy can't tell you. He has nothing to say when it comes to supplying even a sliver of evidence. The Orange authoritarian has quoted, or rather plagiarised from Mein Kampf (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002fj5g) and works closely with characters who give Nazi salutes but Fatboy can't even say something like this about Starmer.
 
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H2SO4 said:
Now you're getting serious. Pray tell me how exactly is Starmer a Nazi?
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When you’re best friends with Klaus Schwab and the WEF, it makes you a borderline brown shirt by association. Especially when Davos selects you as a “Young Leader”. What WEF tells him to do, Starmer does.
 
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