UK drops demand for backdoor into Apple encryption

[hermannj314]

As a believer in equal protection under the law, it is never a win when a powerful company or government lobbies for a specific carve out for only it's customers or its country. Human rights like privacy don't belong to those who bought the right phone or were born on the right piece of soil.

This isn't a win, this is solidifying and reinforcing the idea that different laws should exist for different classes of people - those who can afford to make the government look the other way and those that can't.

Congratulations to Apple on lobbying for its own money. Very noble.

[throwfaraway4]

>it is never a win when a powerful company or government lobbies for a specific carve out for only it's customers or its country.

This wasn't an "Apple only" law -- it would have affected all platforms with data on customers that live outside the UK.

>This isn't a win, this is solidifying and reinforcing the idea that different laws should exist for different classes of people - those who can afford to make the government look the other way and those that can't.

Corporations are not people. The people can afford to vote out politicians making laws that go against the will of the people.

[chrismustcode]

I agree it should be across the spectrum where people have the same rights to privacy.

> those who can afford to make the government look the other way and those that can't.

> Congratulations to Apple on lobbying for its own money. Very noble.

But what’s your implication here, that Apple shouldn’t have fought it?

[lamontcg]

Weird way to manage to do enough contortions to make this all Apple's fault.

[stephen_g]

I find the snark in your comment very weird and misplaced... Consider what the alternative is - Apple isn't allowed to talk about this, so they would have just had to silently backdoor their encryption for all their users all around the world so the UK intelligence organisations could access anyone Apple user's data...

Honestly probably nobody would have noticed that, and it would have been the path of least resistance to just comply. Some informed technical people might abandon Apple's platform, but the masses wouldn't have noticed... So how is this "Apple on lobbying for its own money"?

Honestly that last line just comes across as unhinged... Trying to read your comment in the most generous light but it's not close to reality...

[johnnyanmac]

>it is never a win when a powerful company or government lobbies for a specific carve out for only it's customers or its country.

I don't think that is the case here. It's a "secret order" so it's never sure, but there aren't a lot of global tech companies who will comply to give a single government their worldwide data.

[eviks]

This is an obvious win when fewer people are under the boot even if some people remain they're. It's not a universal win, for sure, but let not perfect be the cause to ignore the good.

[lenerdenator]

Any port in a storm.

[jrflowers]

You have a good point. Privacy is a human right, but nobody should be able to fight for it. People or organizations trying to influence the governments that they live or operate under is wrong, as governments (all of them, globally) should simply do the right thing automatically, all the time.

Sadly every time I’ve tried to explain this to people they always say “you are bleeding a lot” and “dude you just fell down so many stairs. I have never seen anyone fall down that many stairs” or “your head sustained the entire impact of your full bodyweight when you finally reached the bottom of those stairs, how are you even standing?” so I don’t think this is a conversation a lot of people are ready to have

[throw0101a]

> Congratulations to Apple on lobbying for its own money. Very noble.

First they came for the Apple fanboys, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Apple fanboy.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_They_Came

If the UK had 'won' again Apple, do you not think that the Android ecosystem would be next? If the UK had 'won', do you not think that Turkey, India, China, etc, would not be lining up as well?

[catigula]

Unfortunately the internet is just going to be these ChatGPT comments now, isn't it.

[Retr0id]

It's great that they're dropping it, but concerning that it was only because of pushback from US politicians.

Also important to note:

> With the order now reportedly removed, it’s unclear if Apple will restore access to its ADP service in the UK.

[ExoticPearTree]

For sure they didn't drop it out of the goodness of their heart.

[stronglikedan]

> only because of pushback from US politicians

Like it or hate it, that's still the way of the world.

[stephen_g]

The other concerning thing is that it took the otherwise awful Trump administration to push back, while the Biden administration was reportedly going to look the other way (and have been accused of knowing about it but hiding it from Congress) [1].

1. https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/02/26/wapo-biden-just...

[varispeed]

The backdoors might still go ahead. What if backing down is just for show? In the end they don't have to let public know, but this information serves a purpose - potential suspects might now think it is okay to use now and fall right into the trap.

[hardlianotion]

Just rejoice that in this one case, the spinelessness of our elected representatives has some, perhaps temporary, upside.

[flumpcakes]

Good news for UK people.

I am all for laws designed to protect children, and stop terrorism. But these 'back door' laws are nearly always very poorly thought out and offers new avenues for 'normal' people to come to harm.

[throw0101a]

> I am all for laws designed to protect children, and stop terrorism.

The usual suspects:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Horsemen_of_the_Infocalyp...

[chaostheory]

Back doors just make the device or platform less secure.

[ben_w]

Mm.

Unfortunately, I'm highly confident that 90% of the intelligence community looks at us insisting that crypto standards be inviolable, and thinks we're all as infuriatingly naïve as a ChatGPT comment.

I don't know the true risks of terrorist organisations. I doubt I ever will, because the intelligence community wants to keep its methods secret in order to avoid mildly competent terrorists from avoiding stupid (from MI5/6's POV) mistakes. The counter-point is that such secrecy makes the intelligence organisations themselves a convenient unlit path for a power-hungry subgroup to take over a nation.

Regarding sexual abuse, the stats are much easier to find, and are much much worse than most people realise to the extent that most people either don't understand what those numbers mean or don't believe them: If you're an American, on your first day in high school, by your second class you have more than even odds of having met a pupil who had already been assaulted, most likely by someone close to the victim such as a relative.

I don't see how any level of smartphone surveillance will do anything to stop that. Or indeed, any surveillance that isn't continuous monitoring of every kid to make sure such acts don't find them.

[ACCount37]

I am very much against laws designed to protect children and stop terrorism.

By now, "think of the children" is a tired cliche of anti-freedom laws. If "protecting children" requires sacrificing freedom for everyone, then children should not be protected.

Every time I come across another anti-freedom law wrapped in an excuse of "think of the children", I question whether the worshippers of Moloch had the right idea after all.

[amelius]

Meanwhile, who believes that the US has no backdoors in these devices?

[tehwebguy]

Title should say "reportedly drops" or "according to US official." No proof is offered other than a tweet from Tulsi Gabbard.

[lotsofpulp]

I wouldn’t have even bothered to click on the comments if that was in the title. Thanks for illuminating the lack of credible source.

[BCM43]

“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.”

Back doors to end-to-end encryption are considered bad now? Someone should tell the FBI. https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-investigate/lawful-access/lawful-...

[pacifika]

> Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users.

Still there.

[Melatonic]

Yeah if this is true - bit sketchy

[rdm_blackhole]

Small reprieve. Let's hope that Apple pushes back on Chat Control as well.

[Canada]

They will try again

[Ms-J]

The reason the UK dropped the demand is because they already have backdoor access to personal data using multiple methods, and to make the topic disappear for the time being.

Never use a mobile for anything that requires privacy or security. It's the intelligence agencies favourite tool.

[gausswho]

Smoke and mirrors. The UK government got what they want with Apple disabling ADP. Until that's turned on, all iCloud backups are available to them.

That Apple can even claim it encrypts your data is such a bald-faced lie when Advanced Data Protection defaults to off.

[indymike]

First rule of backdoors: the intended user may not be the only user.

[oscord]

Which means they got it.

[rusk]

Or the MOD told them they’ve had it all this time and don’t draw any more attention to it

[neom]

Don't many governments themselves use Apple, especially the Americans? I always found this a weird demand if they do.

[KerrAvon]

Governments generally use special procedures for securing secret information, which makes this a non-issue for government use, assuming government employees follow the procedures, which apparently the Trump administration doesn’t.

[grahar64]

Or did they get what they want?

[alfiedotwtf]

See you all around in a few months when they try the exact same thing :head slap:

[crinkly]

So when can I have ADP back?

Bet that's not happening...

[HeckFeck]

We'll get ADB back before we get ADP back.

[Astro-Domine]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[oliwarner]

... says the most "truthy" US government since records began.

I don't want to be overly cynical but I'm resigned to never truly know details of national security. I have opinions but nobody is listening to them.

[rtkwe]

For now... they've tried and dropped this a half dozen times over the years.

[strangescript]

more important things to yell about now like global id and age verification and doing everything in their power to hamstring AI development

[globalnode]

but what about the children! /s

[a5c11]

Don't worry, politicians will take care of them.

[orangejuice45]

another reason to award the Nobel Prize to DJT if it was ever necessary