- The UK Government reportedly requested Apple build an encryption backdoor
- US Director of National Intelligence says she was not aware of the UK’s request
- Move could violate a bilateral agreement between the US and UK
The Trump Administration is currently investigating whether the UK Government has broken a bilateral agreement between the UK and US by secretly demanding Apple build a backdoor into its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) encryption.
Apple has not confirmed whether the UK government did make this request, but under the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act, confirming such a request had been made would be illegal. Instead, Apple pulled ADP from products in the UK and reaffirmed its promise to ‘never build a backdoor’.
Crucially, the Investigatory Powers Act has extraterritorial powers, meaning that had Apple built the backdoor, British intelligence agencies and law enforcement could have accessed the encrypted data of Apple customers all over the world, including US users.
Clear and egregious
A letter sent by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, seen by 9to5Mac, calls the requested backdoor a ‘clear and egregious violation of American’s privacy and civil liberties’, with Gabbard sharing “grave concern” about the serious implications of any state backdoor access, affirming that this would “open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors”.
Although the UK Government has not confirmed nor denied it made the request, the US Government is now currently investigating whether this reported request violates the information sharing agreements between the two countries.
“My lawyers are working to provide a legal opinion on the implications of the reported UK demands against Apple on the bilateral Cloud Act agreement,” Gabbard noted.
“Upon initial review of the U.S. and U.K. bilateral CLOUD Act Agreement, the United Kingdom may not issue demands for data of U.S. citizens, nationals, or lawful permanent residents (“U.S. persons”), nor is it authorized to demand the data of persons located inside the United States.”
It should be noted the FBI and United States Government have previously requested backdoors into iPhone encryptions going back almost 10 years, with Apple reportedly receiving at least 11 orders compelling the company to use its capabilities to extract data from locked iPhones – which Tim Cook refused.
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