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And remind me again who is requesting a backdoor into Apple’s encryption? Oh yeah, the UK Government.

The point is, if any government around the world wants to spy on your phone, they can. They can view your screen, turn on your camera, microphone and log your keystrokes.

News stories like these are intended to dupe the public into thinking their devices are very secure and private from government snooping, which they are clearly not. It also puts Apple in a positive light.

It’s one of those ‘everybody wins and nobody loses’ type of stories.

Apple can boast all they want about privacy but at the end of the day all of these companies have government backdoors into thier devices otherwise they wouldn’t be allowed to do business in these countries.

They mostly don't need to.

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The reason they want a back door is a surveillance dragnet and default "collect everything" policy which will appear down the line. Ignore the courts and legal folk saying it'll be used for specific cases - it won't.
 
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The US government has also previously asked for a backdoor.

They're only opposed to someone else getting access. They have no problem with outlandish demands and extertion, as long as its benefiting their agenda.

It's a win for freedom. But the unexpected ally is no friend.
A win is win, but you have to admit that the Uganda the EU have been blaming American companies for their policy failures and lack of innovation with the same clueless tactics as Trump and his tariffs.
 
Does this mean UK users will get end-to-end encryption back?
Doubt it. :/

From what I understand they can probably currently read everyone's unencrypted iCloud back-ups around most of the the world, just can't read the encrypted ones, as I believe it's just the backups that aren't encrypted. So if the UK insists Apple doesn't re-enable it in the UK they can keep searching anyone's data in the UK who didn't turn it on before it got banned here. They just can't legally ban Apple from allowing you to turn on full encryption in all the other countries outside their juristiction.

But wherever you are in the world, if you're too scared to turn on full backup encryption in case you lose the recovery key and lose everything as Apple can't unlock it, then GCHQ (or the FBI, or various governments) can probably have a good rummage around your stuff if you back up to iCloud.
 
Doubt it. :/

From what I understand they can probably currently read everyone's unencrypted iCloud back-ups around most of the the world, just can't read the encrypted ones, as I believe it's just the backups that aren't encrypted. So if the UK insists Apple doesn't re-enable it in the UK they can keep searching anyone's data in the UK who didn't turn it on before it got banned here. They just can't legally ban Apple from allowing you to turn on full encryption in all the other countries outside their juristiction.

But wherever you are in the world, if you're too scared to turn on full backup encryption in case you lose the recovery key and lose everything as Apple can't unlock it, then GCHQ (or the FBI, or various governments) can probably have a good rummage around your stuff if you back up to iCloud.
iCloud backup are all encrypted. By default, Apple holds your private decryption key, so they can help you access your account if you forget your password. If you enable ADP, then your private key is only stored on your devices, so Apple can no longer decrypt your data (and cannot help you if you forget your password.)

Governments can't "just search anyone's data". They would need a court order, or similar legal order, to compel Apple to decrypt specific accounts. Again, only if the user is not using ADP.
 
I would imagine that adoption of ADP will be WAY higher because of the UK Govt actions. Lol
If they re-enable it I think you'd be right. Prior to it being withdrawn I would guess that 99% of iPhone users had no idea that ADP even existed. Judging by the number of Facebook posts in local groups regarding lost phones it's clear that turning on Find My or adding an emergency number in medical ID is too much for a lot of people.
 
If they re-enable it I think you'd be right. Prior to it being withdrawn I would guess that 99% of iPhone users had no idea that ADP even existed. Judging by the number of Facebook posts in local groups regarding lost phones it's clear that turning on Find My or adding an emergency number in medical ID is too much for a lot of people.

Yeah that. I know two people who didn’t even have Face ID set up because they think the IR emitter is going to damage their sight. And their phones were stolen and they lost everything because they didn’t even know their iCloud account details.

Same people who quite happily lie in the sun with a cocktail on an Egyptian beach with gunfire rattling in the background a few years back.
 
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They are also using their "Online Safety Act" to try and target US websites with no presence in the UK. I wonder if the US Administration will be dealing with that next? Either way, good luck enforcing fines Britain. Your empire is long gone.

I believe the ADP restrictions will continue to be applied to UK citizens, and eventually everyone will have to turn it off in the UK or lose their Apple account.
 
I would say hurray….but this whole thing was such a bird brained idea, I still can’t understand what insane delusion the UK was under…

I mean not even China demands that companies give them the private data of foreign citizens who never set foot in the country….
 
I can say as an American that sadly my country is certainly The Laughing Stock of the World. Finally we are the best at something.

Oh I don’t know. Between Brexit, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, delusion bills like this, 5G conspiracy theories, etc. I think the UK can definitely give the US a fair run.

It is close mind you, but I wouldn’t rule the UK out yet!
 
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Governments can't "just search anyone's data". They would need a court order, or similar legal order, to compel Apple to decrypt specific accounts. Again, only if the user is not using ADP.


They absolutely can ‘just searched anyone’s data’ when software like Pegasus exists, which can get into any IPhone using zero-day exploits that Apple isn’t aware about. There a reason why Apple, like every other software company, releases ongoing security updates, because someone or some company(like Pegasus) has found exploits in IOS.

Regarding ADP, why would it matter if it’s enabled or not if whoever wants access to the phone can just get straight to the phone and not even have to deal with backups? Again, stories like these ones are meant to give people a false sense of security and privacy.

If any government wants to get into your phone, they will.
 
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One of the biggest reasons to deny a backdoor exists is to protect people from criminals and I am talking about the extreme worst kind of criminals, those who will think nothing of torturing everyone and killing everyone to get what they want. We hear about it time and time again in South American countries relating to the drug cartels. High ranking politicians, judges, lawyers, prosecutors, police officers, senior military officers, corrupted by money, blackmailed or threatened with death if they do not give the drug cartels what they want and we have seen that happen, many of those people assassinated and their families killed by the drug cartels. If there were credible rumor's that backdoors into Apple devices existed, how soon would it be that Apple employee's would come under threat from the drug cartels and other criminals telling them they are to use the backdoor to get into a rivals Apple device or face death.

This is a scenario that I think people have not thought of when it comes to companies denying backdoors exist in their devices. Backdoors 'could' exist but if you deny it strongly enough people start to believe you.
 
Any news about Apple reactivating encryption in the UK for new users?
I've not had any problems enabling ADP for new UK accounts since it was "banned." Here's how to do it for existing UK accounts..

Lets say one day, you and your Apple ID decide to move to, lets say the Empire State Building. Maybe whilst you're there you feel like you should enable ADP, then maybe right away, you decide to move back to the UK because you don't like it over there..

It works as long as you don't have any active subscriptions or any store credit. When you change regions, it will ask for a payment method but "none" always seems to be an option.
 
They absolutely can ‘just searched anyone’s data’ when software like Pegasus exists, which can get into any IPhone using zero-day exploits that Apple isn’t aware about. There a reason why Apple, like every other software company, releases ongoing security updates, because someone or some company(like Pegasus) has found exploits in IOS.
I was commenting on iCloud backups on Apple's servers, not on device security.

Regarding ADP, why would it matter if it’s enabled or not if whoever wants access to the phone can just get straight to the phone and not even have to deal with backups? Again, stories like these ones are meant to give people a false sense of security and privacy.
Ha! I think you are going a bit cloak and dagger here. Just because you don't want other people to have access to your data doesn't mean that people are trying to steal your phone and hack it. :D
 
I've not had any problems enabling ADP for new UK accounts since it was "banned." Here's how to do it for existing UK accounts..

Lets say one day, you and your Apple ID decide to move to, lets say the Empire State Building. Maybe whilst you're there you feel like you should enable ADP, then maybe right away, you decide to move back to the UK because you don't like it over there..

It works as long as you don't have any active subscriptions or any store credit. When you change regions, it will ask for a payment method but "none" always seems to be an option.

Thanks. Why doesn’t it work with subscriptions? Unfortunately I have a few.
 
apparently Macrumors moderators didn't see this as spreading dangerous disinformation...

Nope. I also reported it and got nowhere.
Looks like posting off topic highly inflammatory lies is fair game today.
 
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