U.K. Government Drops Apple Encryption Backdoor Order After U.S. Civil Liberties Pushback
Summary: The U.K. government has dropped its demand that Apple build a backdoor into encrypted data, a mandate issued in January 2025 as a technical capability notice under the Investigatory Powers Act that would have enabled blanket access to end-to-end encrypted cloud data, including for users outside the country. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the U.S. had worked with the U.K. over the past few months and that the U.K. agreed to drop the mandate, which followed Apple switching off Advanced Data Protection for iCloud in the U.K. in February and appealing the order before the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
What's compelling: The order sought blanket access to encrypted cloud data even for users outside the U.K., and critics argued that access to encrypted backups amounts to a backdoor that cybercriminals and authoritarian governments could exploit. It is not known whether Apple intends to turn ADP back on for British users.
Read the original at The Hacker News ↗
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