The UK, through a secret order, has ordered Apple to essentially compromise the complete security of its devices worldwide. The US is stepping forward as a champion of privacy out of self-interest.
The United Kingdom has been waging a vendetta against civilian privacy for many years, allegedly in the name of security. In a new development, the Washington Post found that the country has issued a secret order to that effect to Apple to compromise the security of its devices. The U.S. is offering rebuttal.
The secret warrant is based on the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016, under which the British government appropriates the right to require companies to cooperate when it wants to collect certain evidence. The government is now using that law to require Apple to build a backdoor into its Advanced Data Protection system. When users enable that feature, their phones are securely encrypted.
Although the UK is claiming security with the injunction, a backdoor would just be pernicious for privacy and security worldwide. If Apple concedes, the first step would be to create an intentional bug, which would then supposedly only be available to the UK government. A very logical consequence would be for other countries to demand access to that backdoor on the same grounds.
Open door day for all
Several countries in the EU(including Belgium) would be only too happy to jump on the bandwagon, as well as China. One the backdoor exists, it can also be secretly used for other purposes such as spying. Finally, government agencies have already demonstrated their inability to permanently guard cyber secrets. Sooner or later, details about the backdoor would undoubtedly leak to other countries (think China’s allies such as Russia) or criminal organizations.
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The U.S. knows how real that fear is. After all, several government departments and officials became victims of Chinese espionage in recent years. Ok in Europe China was watching, but there the lesson seems less quickly learned.
The U.S. opposes
The Washington Post now notes that the US is not served by the UK’s plans. Tulsi Gabbard is the new head of security services in the U.S. and is not beyond reproach because of her sympathy for Putin in Russia and former dictator Assad in Syria, among others. However, Gabbard does not like the fact that other countries can watch Americans’ devices. She immediately threatened repercussions, including intelligence sharing, if the UK does not back down.
It is unclear what the status of the request to Apple is at this time. Under British law, Apple is not allowed to comment publicly on the injunction.