People lined up outside of Apple Store on University Ave. in Palo Alto, California, United States on September 20, 2024 as Apple’s iPhone 16 sales officially begins.
Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu | Getty Images
The U.K. has ordered Apple to provide officials access to users’ encrypted accounts, the Washington Post reported Friday.
Britain’s Home Office, which handles immigration and security, last month issued an order to Apple requiring a technical “backdoor” that would allow officials to view fully encrypted material uploaded to the cloud software, the Post reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
“We do not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any such notices,” a Home Office spokesperson.
Apple did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.
The iPhone maker gives users the ability to store all their photos, messages, documents and more on its encrypted iCloud service — Apple’s iCloud is end-to-end encrypted, meaning only the owner of the material can view it.
Governments in the U.S., U.K. and EU have long expressed dissatisfaction with this setup, arguing it enables criminals, terrorists and sex offenders to conceal illicit activity. In the U.K., the Investigatory Powers Act of 2016 empowers the government to compel tech companies to weaken their encryption technologies through so-called “backdoors.”
Tech firms — including Apple — have pushed back on attempts to undermine encryption, saying it would weaken user privacy.
Click here to read the full story from the Washington Post.
