England has requested Apple to give access to encrypted iCloud data from global users. How does Apple respond to this?
Encrypted iCloud data
Do you have a paid subscription to iCloud? Then your data may soon no longer be safe for the English government. According to The Washington Post Has the British government submitted a request to Apple, with which the company is forced to give access to all encrypted data in iCloud. This not only applies to iCloud users in England, but all over the world.
That would be a big step for Apple, because the company is known for the privacy protection of users. For example, all files you put in iCloud are encrypted with end-to-end encryption, provided you have enabled this function. In that case, all data is so well protected that only you have access to the data. In this way your files also remain private for Apple. The government in England wants to change that and demands access to all iCloud files.
Unlimited access
The request of England states that the government wants to get unlimited access to the encrypted data in iCloud, to detect crime and terrorism. This concerns data from users around the world. With the ‘Advanced Data Protection’ function, iCloud encrypts your data to keep them safe. The English government wants to get rid of this position in order to gain access to all files.
To achieve this, England has ordered Apple to build a kind of back door at iCloud for government employees. In that case they can use this opening unnoticed and view all data from users. It is now clear that Apple does not (yet) agree with this, the company refuses to cooperate for the time being. That is not very strange, because the back door required by England is in principle a gap in Apple’s security.
iCloud less well protected in England
Apple did not officially respond to the command of England to open data in iCloud to the government. It is a secret request from the British government that Apple is not allowed to make public. The company therefore secretly challenges the request to prevent the security of iCloud from being adjusted. An opening in security is ultimately not only found by the English government, but also by criminals or other countries. This makes iCloud much more unsafe for all users.
Apple can choose to disable advanced data protection for users of iCloud in England. In that case the data is no longer encrypted, with which the company meets the requirements of the government. Yet there is a chance that the British government will not find this enough, because the data from foreign users will remain encrypted. It is still unclear what the next steps would be. It is clear that Apple does not agree with the requirements for the time being.
Download the iPhoned app
