Apple has reportedly been ordered by the UK government to allow it access to encrypted data stored by the company’s users worldwide in its cloud service.
At the moment, only the Apple account holder can access such data – not even the US technology giant can see it.
Apple, which makes iPhones, iPads and iMacs, has been issued with a Technical Capability Notice (TCN), the Washington Post and BBC are reporting.
This order, which does not get published, is said to require a blanket ability for the government to view people’s encrypted data – both in the UK and abroad.
The Home Office will not confirm or deny the existence of the order. Apple has been approached for comment.
Getting technology companies to break encryption has long been a contentious issue in the UK government.
Ministers have argued they want to use it for purposes like protecting children, identifying criminals and keeping the public safe.
What are the concerns?
Opponents say it is a breach of privacy. They also highlight the risk to whistleblowers and journalists, and point out that any tool the government has to break into people’s information has a danger of being hijacked by bad actors.
There are also concerns that, if implemented, the UK’s order could lead nations like China to force Western companies to break their users’ privacy.
‘Advanced Data Protection’
On Apple products, users have the option to use Advanced Data Protection (ADP).
The UK government’s demand applies to all content stored using ADP, which means certain data can only be decrypted by the user.
Apple promises that even a cloud data breach would not make the information readable.
Users are also told that Apple cannot see the data due to the end-to-end encryption used to share the information.
End-to-end encryption means that messages and data sent between two devices can only be read by the person they are sent to – and are scrambled if anyone else tries to intercept or access them.
The debate stretches as far…
