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The UK has dropped its demand that Apple create a backdoor for government security officials to access encrypted data, according to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard wrote in a post on X last night that she has "been working closely with our partners in the UK... to ensure Americans' private data remains private and our Constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected. As a result, the UK has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a 'back door' that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties."
Reports surfaced in February that the UK served Apple with a secret order, known as a Technical Capability Notice, under its Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) or so-called "Snoopers' Charter." Apple appealed the order and refused to break its end-to-end encryption, opting instead to remove iCloud's Advanced Data Protection feature from the UK market.
The UK government hasn't directly confirmed or denied Gabbard's claim that it agreed to drop the demand. "We do not comment on operational matters, including confirming or denying the existence of such notices," a UK government spokesperson told news organizations.
JD Vance intervened, US official says
The BBC said it "understands Apple has not yet received any formal communication from either the US or UK governments." We contacted Apple today and will update this article if it provides a response.
A Financial Times article yesterday said that "[Vice President] JD Vance, who was recently on holiday in the UK, intervened to ensure Britain agreed to withdraw an order that sought to force Apple to break open encrypted data stored in its iCloud system that even the iPhone maker itself is normally unable to access, according to a US official."
"The vice president negotiated a mutually beneficial understanding that the UK government will withdraw the current backdoor order to Apple," the US official told the Financial Times.
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