Apple challenges UK demand to create iCloud backdoor for intelligence agencies

When it comes to national security, the freedoms and rights of individuals are often overlooked. The British government, acting on these grounds, demanded that Apple grant them access to its secure cloud storage system for users’ data, but the company decided to challenge the order.

Image Source: Apple

The information was made public this week, as Reuters explains, by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), the highest court in the United Kingdom. Initially, the British authorities insisted that the content of the case itself, as well as Apple’s involvement in it, not be made public. This request was rejected by the highest court in the UK, although the Home Office insisted on it. According to the justice authorities, publicizing the essence of this dispute cannot be contrary to the public interest or pose a threat to national security.

In February of this year, it became known that the UK authorities demanded that Apple provide access to the encrypted cloud storage of iCloud data so that employees of the competent authorities could study the photos and correspondence of users of devices of this brand, even from outside the UK. Apple’s refusal was motivated by the threat to the privacy of such data, since this access channel can be equally used by attackers.

The company, however, could not avoid making some concessions to the British authorities. For its new users in the UK, it turned off cloud data encryption using the advanced Advanced Data Protection protocol.