Court confirms Apple is suing UK government over encryption backdoor request

Date:
Tue, 08 Apr 2025 14:45:00 +0000

Description:
The court has provided official confirmation of the legal challenge.

FULL STORY

In the latest development of the ongoing privacy dispute between Apple and
the UK Government, a British court has officially confirmed the company has launched a legal challenge.

Campaigners have been pushing for transparency in the legal challenge, and
the Investigatory Powers Tribunal rejected the attempt by the government to keep the bare details of the case secret, the Financial Times reports.

Early in 2025, Apple removed its option for end-to-end encryption, Advanced Data Protection , following a request by the British Government for Apple to build a backdoor into the encryption for law enforcement agencies.

Ongoing litigation

The court confirmed it, did not accept the revelation of the bare details of the case would be damaging to the public interest or prejudicial to national security, having heard submissions from privacy campaigners, media organizations, and even US senators.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but has
reaffirmed its promise to never build a backdoor .

The firm has previously denied requests from the FBI for a similar law enforcement master key - although the current Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, called the UK's request a clear and egregious violation of Americans privacy and civil liberties, since the backdoor could theoretically be used against citizens outside of the UK.

The tech giant and privacy campaigners argue that once a backdoor is built, threat actors could potentially steal access to private data, and governments could abuse their powers with enhanced surveillance.

Our readers overwhelmingly disagree with proposals to build a master key for law enforcement, with 67% of surveyed respondents saying that their data is private, and that they wouldnt want their Government to have access.

For now, British Apple users wont have access to Advanced Data Protection -
so users should consider another type of cloud storage solution if they want
to enjoy end-to-end encryption.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/court-confirms-apple-is-suing-uk-government-over -encryption-backdoor-request

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