UK drops demand for backdoor into Apple encryption

Apple secures a triumph successful its combat against the UK’s encryption entree demands.

The United Kingdom volition nary longer unit Apple to supply backdoor entree to unafraid idiosyncratic information protected by the company’s iCloud encryption service, according to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

“Over the past fewer months, I’ve been moving intimately with our partners successful the UK, alongside @POTUS and @VP, to guarantee Americans’ backstage information remains backstage and our Constitutional rights and civilian liberties are protected,” Gabbard posted to X connected Monday. “As a result, the UK has agreed to driblet its mandate for Apple to supply a ‘back door’ that would person enabled entree to the protected encrypted information of American citizens and encroached connected our civilian liberties.”

This announcement follows the UK issuing a concealed order successful January this year, demanding Apple supply it with backdoor entree to encrypted files uploaded by users worldwide. In response, Apple pulled its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) encrypted iCloud retention offering from the UK and challenged the order, winning the close to publically sermon the lawsuit successful April. Earlier this year, US officials started examining whether the UK bid had violated the bilateral CLOUD Act agreement, which bars the UK and US from issuing demands for each other’s data.

This unit from the US sparked reports past month that Britain would locomotion backmost the demands it issued to Apple, with 1 unnamed UK authoritative telling the Financial Times that the UK “had its backmost against the wall,” and was looking for a mode out. While it’s unclear if the UK would negociate caller presumption with Apple that debar implicating the information of US citizens, an unnamed US authoritative told The Financial Times that specified negotiations would not beryllium faithful to the caller agreement.

With the bid present reportedly removed, it’s unclear if Apple volition reconstruct entree to its ADP work successful the UK. We person reached retired to Apple for comment. The UK Home Office has refused to remark connected the situation.