The United Kingdom will not confirm or deny that it kills encryption

UK dealt A big blow to her war on encryption Last week, along with the accurately organized privacy obligations of Apple, it can have repercussions all over the world to protect personal data. Although several days have passed since Apple withdrew the APLE protection feature (ADP) from UK clients, other encryption providers to the end such as Meta, Signal and Telegram have not yet taken an official position outside some of its implementation on social media.

The United Kingdom may have set a precedent for other global governments to follow up when they are According to what Apple, Apple has been ordered to give it access to iCloud data. Under the 2016 investigation authorities law (IPA), the British government can request user data a law for the purpose of national security and crime prevention. This apparently includes All over the world Access to data, even if it is tightly encrypted.

Some of these demands will be facilitated by the controversial changes made on IPA in April 2024 to expand their monitoring capabilities, such as allowing intelligence services to access the loose personal data groups maintained by third parties and the UK government to overlap with telecommunications companies that want to provide encryption services.

We do not know exactly how the UK command was formulated. Washington Post I mentioned that Apple received “technical ability notification” according to the IPA, which I demanded to create the “back door” for iCloud, which provides “the comprehensive ability to display the entire encrypted materials, not just helping to break a specific account.”

This may be an explanation of the arrangement. according to Minister of Interior State Dan GarvisThe same technical ability notes requires disclosure of specific information. Instead, companies are forced to “the ability to respond to a memorandum or individual permission.” In other words, operators are prevented from having a technology in place-such as full encryption services with only the access of the user-which can prevent the UK from intruding when you choose.

It is believed that the order to Apple is the first such request since the iPa update last year. We don’t really know if other companies have been slaughtered by similar orders because they are Illegal to publicly admit whether they had received one. Britain is designed maliciously its war against data encryption to almost completely happen behind the closed doors. Apple can appeal the ruling in secret but it cannot reveal if it exists. It cannot say if compliance. The only reason we know about the arrangement is that it was leaked Washington Post.

The British Ministry of the Interior will not confirm or deny its participation. The statement I presented to freedom He said: “We do not comment on operational issues, including, for example, to confirm or deny the existence of any such notifications.”

Instead, Cubino, its California -based company The highest -level data security tool pulled From the country without explanation yet Washington Post Article has been published. The ADP feature expands the encryption from one side to a party available on passwords, health data and payment information to include drives, backups, observations, photos, audio notes and more.

“The UK government places Apple in a position that cannot be defended by claiming the rear paper in a comprehensive encryption in ICLOUD for users everywhere in the world,” said Andrew Crocer, director of litigation in the Electronic Border Foundation (EFF). freedom. “Apple’s decision to disable UK users can be the only reasonable response at this stage, but it leaves these people at the mercy of bad actors and deprives them of a technique that preserves privacy.”

Given that the United Kingdom is a student worldwide Access to data, it is unclear whether the ADP withdrawal from the country has fulfilled the demand. However, it will remove some obstacles that prevent the UK government from spying on its citizens, which, as Crocker notes, makes people “less safe” than possible and “less free” security threats. Apple had already had He threatened to withdraw security features From the UK market when I opposed the IPA bill, but the decision to do so It still attracts criticism To engage with the image that is built about being a self -defender of privacy rights.

Apple’s Apple withdrawal from ADP can be explained as an invitation to break the silent silence intentionally around Britain The upward efforts to crush encryption services from one side. It is an invitation that does not seem to have other encryption service providers. Meta, Signal and Telegram did not issue any advertisements about its services that provide complete encryption and did not respond to our requests to comment on the situation. Their silence and constant availability of encryption features in the UK will indicate that there is nothing wrong with.

This is probably the case because the encryption services provided by most telecommunications companies are not as wide as Apple’s ADP offer, “says Thorin Klosowski, EFF, says that this is likely that the encryption services provided by most telecommunications companies are not as wide as Apple’s ADP offer.

“Few companies offer anything exactly like protecting advanced data, and as Apple says she believes that she still provides IMessage encryption from end to end.” freedom. “If the date is any signal, if the encryption is from one side to the end of other contact applications, such as signal or WhatsApp, it has been targeted, These companies will issue noise on this topic“

WhatsApp and the signal Both of them threatened to leave the United Kingdom if their services were forced to weaken encryption standards under the Internet safety bill in the country. WhatsApp Will Cathcart President also commented on the UK in exchange for Apple’s position directly on social media, but WhatsApp or his mother company, Meta, did not provide an official statement.

“Encryption is extremely important to maintain people’s safety, and governments must encourage it,” ” Catcar said on x. “The coding ban is a dangerous gift for infiltrators and hostile foreign governments.”

Most of the screams were not at risk, however, instead, from Privacy rights groups And government officials. The United States is also achieving Whether Apple notification in the UK violates CloudAn agreement between both countries that prevents the other from issuing demands for citizen data.

“If a company is offered at the back door without its customers knowing about it, then this will be a major violation of privacy and confidence,” said Closeki. “Even with the nominal value, these types of the background expose everyone to the risk of hacking, stealing identity and fraud, because there is no way to ensure” good people “only. As we have seen in the past, bad actors will find a way to this back.”

The full repercussions of the Apple decision to withdraw the ADP from the UK have not yet been revealed. Britain is not the only nation with beef with a comprehensive encryption- Many European Union countries And other The members of the coalition “five eyes” expressed their interest In weakening the method of security, on the pretext that it impedes the efforts made to decide on sexual materials for children and criminal activity.

This position can be considered as a successful test of excessive monitoring authorities in the UK, which may inspire other governments to adopt the same approach. US and Australia I have already suggested laws with powers similar to the notifications Apple user opening rift before.

Unless the company, which was affected by these notifications, is affected by violating the orders of a legally binding gag, IPA can either impose targets to provide secret access to or force them to remove the same barriers that were installed to prevent them in the first place. Either way, they have nothing to lose – we do.