The United Kingdom requires Apple to implement a rear door that allows them to examine the content stored by users in their Icloud accounts, as reported by The Washington Post. It is not the first time that – not alone, but especially – the British authorities try something similar, but it is the most crazy to date: they not only intend to have access to what is cooked in their territory, but anywhere in the world .
The issue of encryption and rear doors is a constant between the technology industry and the global authorities, always in the same terms: break security in favor of securityan oxymoron that falls by its own weight – vulnerabilities do not understand alleged legitimities of exploitation – and that, beyond interested diatribes, has been declared contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights.
Well, in the United Kingdom they continue to insist on it. The application requires generalized capacity to access all the encrypted material of a user without geographical or time restrictionsa prerogative worthy of any dictatorship that boasts and that the apple company will try to overcome as it can. According to sources consulted by TWP, Apple could withdraw the storage option encrypted in the United Kingdom to avoid promising security that in practice will not be able to guarantee.
The order is based on the investigator Powers Act of 2016, a legislation that regulates access to data by the security agencies and the forces of the order. The British government made modifications to this law last year with the aim of ensuring that intelligence and police services can keep up to emerging threats such as terrorism, hostile state actors, child abuse and organized crime in general.
History is even more complicated that Apple will not be able to reveal whether this order has received, since doing so would constitute a crime. However, if confirmed, other great technological ones with a global presence, such as Google, with many more users in the country could receive a similar request in the future, in the same terms: the British authorities seek global access to all accounts, even those of users outside the country.
According to the published information, Apple had already received a draft of the order when the modifications to the law were discussed. In a written response at that time, they would have warned that these changes could force the company to withdraw important security functions from the British market. Although the company still has the possibility of appealing the measure, this process will not allow you to delay compliance.
