TZUTC: -0500   
   MSGID: 78.consprcy@1:2320/105 2c0cafbd   
   PID: Synchronet 3.20a-Linux master/acc19483f Apr 26 202 GCC 12.2.0   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.20-Linux master/acc19483f Apr 26 2024 23:04 GCC 12.2.0   
   BBSID: CAPCITY2   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   Apple could soon be forced to give away all your encrypted data to the UK   
   government   
      
   Date:   
   Fri, 07 Feb 2025 16:24:20 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   The UK issued the order under the controversial  Investigatory Powers Act.   
   Now, experts fear that Meta and Google could be the next target, warning   
   against mass surveillance.   
      
   FULL STORY   
   ======================================================================   
      
   UK authorities want to force Apple to break its end-to-end encryption   
   protections and allow it to spy on all data stored by users worldwide in its   
   cloud storage service.    
      
   The Washington Post was the first to report on the undisclosed order the Big   
   Tech Giant supposedly received last month.    
      
   People familiar with the matter told the publication that Apple is likely to   
   stop offering encrypted storage in the UK, rather than undermine the privacy   
   and security promised by its services. Yet, this may not be enough for Apple   
   to completely avoid the requirement to comply with encryption backdoor    
   demands in other countries.    
      
   Issued under the controversial 2016 Investigatory Powers Act, the UK order   
   adds to ongoing pressures in Europe and beyond to create backdoors in   
   encrypted software that could facilitate law enforcement's criminal   
   investigations. Technologists and privacy experts, however, have long argued   
   how this would undermine citizens' overall security while fueling   
   indiscriminate mass surveillance. After Apple, they now fear Meta and Google   
   could become the UK's next target.   
      
   UK's encryption backdoor request    
      
   The UK notice targets all encrypted content iPhone, iPad, and macOS users   
   across the world have stored using Apple's Advanced Data Protection (ADP).    
      
   While this isn't a default feature, users can manually enable this protection   
   for extra privacy and security to encrypt all the stored data. This means    
   that not even Apple itself can access these files. It's worth mentioning that   
   the FBI also expressed concerns about this feature when it launched in 2022.    
      
   So far, Apple, and even the UK Home Office, have declined to share comments    
   on the matter, with the latter saying it does not confirm or deny the   
   existence of such notice.    
      
   Deemed Snooper Chart by its critics, the Investigatory Power Act allows law   
   enforcement "to compel assistance from companies when needed to collect   
   evidence," said an anonymous Washington Post source reportedly close to the   
   matter.    
      
   Worse still, among other things, last year's proposed amendment to the law   
   seeks to require all tech companies to ask for approval from the Home Office   
   before adding new security or privacy features, encryption included. At the   
   time, Apple strongly criticized the proposal, arguing it "would undermine   
   fundamental human rights."   
      
   "This is a deeply concerning step that has huge ramifications for both   
   encryption and for people's data privacy worldwide," Jurgita Miseviciute,    
   Head of Public Policy at Proton, told TechRadar.    
      
   The provider behind one of the best VPN , encrypted email, and drive services   
   on the market, Proton fears that compliance from Apple would create a   
   dangerous precedent in the fight against encrypted apps.    
      
   Other experts and privacy advocates fear that the likes of Google and Meta    
   may be next. Both companies, in fact, offer encrypted backup options.    
      
   In a tweet on X , the Director of Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo, wrote: "It   
   is completely unprecedented for a Government in any democracy to take our   
   ability to have a private conversation, without the state listening in, away   
   from millions of its own citizens  let alone the world. It is sinister in the   
   extreme."    
      
   It's not just our privacy at stake, though. Experts also argue that, on a   
   technical level, encryption backdoors will create more problems than they   
   solve by allowing cybercriminals to exploit vulnerable entry points.    
      
   "Backdoors to encryption that only let the good guys in are impossible," said   
   Miseviciute. "Removing access to end-to-end encryption in the UK for people's   
   files would be a huge step backward that would create a two-tier system,    
   erode trust, and expose British users to surveillance and cyber threats."   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/apple-could-soon-be-forced-   
   to-give-away-all-your-encrypted-data-to-the-uk-government   
      
   $$   
   --- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux   
    * Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)   
   SEEN-BY: 105/81 106/201 128/187 129/305 153/7715 154/110 218/700 226/30   
   SEEN-BY: 227/114 229/110 111 114 206 300 307 317 400 426 428 470 664   
   SEEN-BY: 229/700 705 266/512 291/111 320/219 322/757 342/200 396/45   
   SEEN-BY: 460/58 712/848 902/26 2320/0 105 3634/12 5075/35   
   PATH: 2320/105 229/426