In 2016, the FBI requested Apple to grant it an iOS backdoor access, but the company rejected it, with the “No” coming straight from CEO Tim Cook. In 2021, Apple even sued an Australian company that unlocked an iPhone for the same federal law enforcement agency.
Apple is once again at a security crossroads that could pose an existential threat to its iPhone business, and the privacy of users across the globe. According to The Washington Post, the British government has ordered Apple to give them “blanket” access to the encrypted materials saved by iPhone users on the iCloud online storage drive.
“Security officials in the United Kingdom have demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud,” says the report.
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At the center of the debate is Advanced Data Protection, a new feature that started rolling out in 2022 and allows users to protect their iCloud data with a layer of end-to-end encryption.
That means even Apple can’t see it, and only the user can access it after identity verification. The content protected by encryption on Apple’s cloud storage includes photos, notes, reminders, messages, bookmarks, and voice memos, among others.
An infamous tool strikes again
The order reportedly comes from the office of the Home Secretary and invokes the U.K. Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) of 2016, which allows law enforcement bodies to arm-twist companies into compliance.
Also infamous as the Snooper’s Charter, the IPA allows the government to “collect and store information about everything people do and say online,” as per the Digital Freedom Fund. Notably, a bill widening the powers of the IPA was approved in the UK and became law in April last year.
Liberty, a prominent civil liberties organization, says the IPA also allows the government to “hack into our phones and computers and create large ‘personal datasets’ on us.” The group is currently engaged in a legal battle against the provisions of IPA in the country.
As per The Post, the IPA is so secretive that even disclosing a government’s demand invoking the order is deemed a criminal offense. In 2024, Apple argued against another IPA-adjacent demand by lawmakers, labeling it an “unprecedented overreach by the government.”
Back then, Apple threatened the removal of services such as iMessage and FaceTime from the UK market rather than compromise with the security aspect.
Regarding the latest order from the British government, Apple can file an appeal, but as per local laws, the company can’t delay compliance. And here’s the most worrying part. If Apple agrees to the request, it can’t warn users about the weakened state of security on iPhones.
Apple can’t even warn iPhone users.
“One of the people briefed on the situation, a consultant advising the United States on encryption matters, said Apple would be barred from warning its users that its most advanced encryption no longer provided full security,” says the report.
The consequences could be chilling. The UK government is not only asking Apple to let it secretly access the data of local iPhone users, but also those in other countries across the globe.
Moreover, if a democratic nation like the UK can land such an approval, regimes with a more authoritarian approach would also push Apple for similar access. This comes at a time when China-linked hacking operations have rattled the US government and officials have been instructed to cultivate a certain level of digital security vigilance, including the usage of encrypted software.