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Second order this yr focuses on UK customers; earlier try included US person knowledge, however was withdrawn underneath US strain.
The British authorities has ordered Apple at hand over private knowledge uploaded by its prospects to the cloud for the second time this yr in an ongoing privateness row that has raised considerations amongst civil liberties campaigners.
The Residence Workplace issued a requirement in early September for the tech behemoth to create a so-called again door that might enable the authorities entry to non-public knowledge uploaded by United Kingdom Apple prospects after a earlier try that included prospects in the USA failed, in line with a report revealed on Wednesday by The Monetary Instances.
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A earlier technical capability notice (TCN) issued early this yr led to a serious backlash from the US, which frowns upon international entities in search of to manage Silicon Valley. The administration of US President Donald Trump finally pressured the UK to again down.
US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard stated in August that the administration had wished to “guarantee People’ non-public knowledge stays non-public and our constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected”.
Civil liberties campaigners within the UK reacted with alarm to the newest order for entry to encrypted knowledge. “If this new order isn’t stopped, the UK Authorities will doubtless situation related orders to different firms, too,” stated London-based group Privateness Worldwide.
It stated the UK authorities, which might be deploying the measure to guard nationwide safety, risked “everybody’s safety, whereas claiming to ‘shield’ folks”.
If this new order isn’t stopped, the UK Authorities will doubtless situation related orders to different firms, too.
— Privateness Worldwide (@privacyint) October 1, 2025
The Residence Workplace was cited by the FT as saying: “We don’t touch upon operational issues, together with, for instance, confirming or denying the existence of any such notices.”
Privateness via encryption is a serious promoting level for tech platforms, which have lengthy seen offering entry to regulation enforcement as a pink line.
On Wednesday, Apple stated it had “by no means constructed a backdoor or grasp key to any of our services or products and we by no means will”. The corporate had appealed in opposition to the sooner TCN on the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal, the physique confirmed in April.
Nevertheless, it withdrew full end-to-end encryption, generally known as Superior Information Safety, for UK customers in February. The characteristic permits iPhone and Mac customers to make sure that solely they – and never even Apple – can unlock knowledge saved on its cloud.
“Apple remains to be unable to supply Superior Information Safety in the UK to new customers, and present UK customers will finally have to disable this safety characteristic,” the California-based firm stated on Wednesday.
The corporate stated it was dedicated to providing customers the best stage of safety, and it was hopeful it could have the opportunity to take action in Britain sooner or later.
The controversy over official makes an attempt to eavesdrop on Apple customers comes amid a rising furore over authorities plans to situation digital identity cards to curb undocumented immigration and chase away threats from the right-wing Reform UK social gathering.
The transfer raised hackles amongst civil liberties teams and residents within the UK, the place the idea of nationwide identification playing cards has historically been unpopular.
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