UK Drops Apple Backdoor Data Access Requirement, Reports 24brussels.
The United Kingdom will no longer require Apple to grant backdoor access to secure user data protected by the company’s iCloud encryption service, according to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
“Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside @POTUS and @VP, to ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our Constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected,” Gabbard posted to X on Monday. “As a result, the UK has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a ‘back door’ that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties.”
This announcement follows the UK’s issuance of a secret order in January demanding Apple provide backdoor access to encrypted files uploaded by users worldwide. In response, Apple withdrew its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) encrypted iCloud storage offering from the UK and challenged the order, gaining the right to discuss the case publicly in April. Earlier this year, US officials began investigating whether the UK order violated the bilateral CLOUD Act agreement, which prohibits the UK and US from issuing demands for each other’s data.
Pressure from the US led to reports last month suggesting that the UK would retract its demands of Apple, with an unnamed UK official telling the Financial Times that the UK “had its back against the wall,” while searching for an exit strategy. While it remains uncertain if the UK will negotiate new terms with Apple that avoid implicating the data of US citizens, an unnamed US official indicated to the Financial Times that such negotiations would not adhere to the new agreement.
With the order now allegedly retracted, it remains unclear if Apple will reinstate access to its ADP service in the UK. Efforts to obtain a comment from Apple are ongoing. The UK Home Office has declined to comment on the situation.
