Apple vs. UK — ADP E2EE Back Door Faceoff
End-to-end encryption battle continues, but Tim still Shtum.
Apple has appealed against a United Kingdom government order to create a back door in the iCloud storage service. As we learned last month, those pesky Brits are demanding Apple break its end-to-end encryption, also known as Advanced Data Protection (ADP).
(We only know this because secret sources spoke to Tim Bradshaw and Lucy Fisher. Said secret sources revealed the secret complaint to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal, appealing the secret order—in secret.)
As always with attempts to break E2EE, the math ain’t mathing. In today’s SB Blogwatch, we worry about dumb politicians.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: 4D reverb.
Won’t Tim Think of the Children?
What’s the craic? Akash Sriram reports: Apple appeals to overturn UK government’s ‘back door’ order
“Apple declined to comment”
Apple has appealed a British government order to create a “back door” in its most secure cloud storage systems. … Apple appealed against the order last month around the same time as it withdrew ADP from the UK, rather than comply with the technical capability notice it received.
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The … Tribunal did not immediately respond to requests for comment. … Apple declined to comment. … Britain’s Home Office declined to comment, but said that privacy “is only impacted on an exceptional basis in relation to the most serious crimes and only when it is necessary.”
Didn’t Apple fix this by not offering ADP in the UK? Not really, as Natasha Lomas explains: Apple is challenging U.K.’s iCloud encryption backdoor order
“Going on the offensive”
Apple is continuing to offer the strongly encrypted iCloud backups in other markets — even though the order reportedly sought access to the data of users outside the UK market, too. The British Government believes Apple has therefore failed to comply despite shuttering the feature locally.
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The company is going on the offensive to try to overturn the order against its … ADP feature. … This could be the first time the UK’s encryption breaking powers have been tested before the body that oversees the security services, although … the hearing is likely to be held in secret.
Sauce for the goose? A slightly sarcastic Nick Farrell thinks back nine years: Apple fights UK back door
“Trump was furious”
Apple, the self-proclaimed guardian of user privacy, is throwing a tantrum over the UK’s “back door” into its oh-so-secure iCloud systems. Complying with laws designed to protect citizens from threats like terrorism and child exploitation is just too much to ask from the tech giant that never misses a chance to flaunt its moral superiority.
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The move has ruffled feathers: … Apple contacted its new bestie, President Donald … Trump, who compared the UK’s demand to Chinese surveillance tactics. … Unfortunately, Trump appears to have forgotten that the last time Apple was asked to do this was … in 2016, [when] the FBI obtained a court order compelling Apple to create … a backdoor. Apple opposed this order. … Trump was furious and famously called for a boycott of Apple products, … asking, “Who do they think they are?”
This again? evanTO sighs the sigh of SSDD frustration:
Sigh. I guess a new generation of leaders need to be educated: If you create a backdoor for government, it will be used by criminals. Any encryption with a backdoor is no encryption. Encryption is math, and math doesn’t care about your political stance.
Why don’t they get it? Even JimboSmith’s mom does:
I had a chat with my mum about this a few years ago. … She’d just started using online banking. … I said to her without E2EE her new found way of banking wouldn’t be possible.
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I said the second you put in a back door then you can assume multiple criminals will be looking for this easy way in. … She said why don’t politicians understand this? I said she’d answered her own question there, they’re politicians and while not all of them are clueless idiots, there are more than a few around who were.
What’s the problem here? cjs_ac sinks a refreshing glass of IPA:
The Investigatory Powers Act (which allows for this spat with Apple) is a terrible piece of legislation. … It represents a serious breach of individuals’ privacy, which is a foundation stone in the culture of a country as densely populated as the United Kingdom. The extraterritorial aspect of the legislation is not only uncouth in the twenty-first century, but presently unenforceable. … Choosing to pick this fight now was a poor choice given the current state of international politics.
But Kitkoan thinks you’re missing the point:
I think it’s more, “You allow China full access to iCloud accounts in China. If you can do it for them, you could do it for us.”
Not exactly the same, though, is it? As shadowboi points out, the UK is asking for access to accounts everywhere:
What bothers me … is that their MI6 wants not just the data of British citizens but also from elsewhere — be it Poland, Estonia, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland or even war-torn Ukraine. … Apple should never fall for that, even if that means they will need to quit the market. Why? Because it gives so much headspace for misuse.
Why isn’t Apple saying anything about it? BeeksElectric thinks Tim Cook is spineless:
I get Apple wants to keep this quiet and is thus playing by the secrecy rules right now, but if they keep getting stymied I would hope Tim Cook would have the balls to openly call the government out on this. I’m sorry, there’s no way on the planet the UK would legitimately try to arrest Cook, the CEO of the world’s largest company, for violating the secrecy of an effort that absolutely should not be secret.
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If Cook has a spine, he will publish an open letter on this a la Jobs on Flash, and bring this debate fully into the limelight as opposed to floating around in the background just out of view of the general public. … Apple should openly announce they received this notice, and advise their users that they will be forced to comply with these rules if the UK does not change their policy.
Meanwhile, mb__1 feels conflicted:
It’s really come to something when I’m backing a tech leviathan to save privacy and freedom of speech.
And Finally:
You have been reading SB Blogwatch by Richi Jennings. Richi curates the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites—so you don’t have to. Hate mail may be directed to @RiCHi, @richij, @[email protected], @richi.bsky.social or [email protected]. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Do not stare into laser with remaining eye. E&OE. 30.
Image sauce: European Union, 2023 (cc:by; leveled and cropped)
