When the laws forces you to choose between doing the right thing and doing perhaps worse, what is there to do? There are even more pressing issues at stake that I’ll address later in this column, but that’s the problem Apple found itself in when trying to agree with Britain’s Orwell-inspired Investigatory Powers Act.  ,
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Every phone in the world was a secret secret that the American authorities wanted, I’ll explain briefly. Apple turning off Advanced Data Protection for its American people is what it’s getting. Encryption is basically prohibited under the Investigatory Powers Act because it is not disclosed to users without tech companies providing a key ( also known as a backdoor ) to the government to access anything it wants.
Apple’s Advanced Data Protection ( ADP ) “protects iCloud data with end-to-end encryption, which means the data can only be decrypted by the user who owns it, and only on their trusted devices”.
Apple stated that it is no longer able to provide ADP to “new users” and that” recent UK users will ultimately have to remove this security feature.”
Because it was either that or Apple had provide clients with unsatisfactory encryption because of the enormous gap that the Investigatory Powers Act created by enforcing consumer protection. The worst piece? When a bank vault was used, tech companies weren’t permitted to disclose that their privacy policies in Britain are now the modern equivalent of a camera door.
Those are bad choices, but at least English users hasn’t been misled about the protection of their fog storeroom.  ,
Given the ongoing rise of data vulnerabilities and other risks to consumer protection, the firm explained,” We are profoundly disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be applicable to our clients in the UK.” More serious than ever, end-to-end crypto makes it easier to increase cloud storage security.
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And Another Thing: Neither Google ( which makes the popular Android operating system ) nor Samsung ( which is a huge global seller of Android phones ) has had anything to say about Britain’s privacy-busting law. Sometimes that’s because of the embedded joke purchase. Maybe that’s because they’re in total compliance, and presently Samsung devices around the world are content to Britain’s secret. I have no idea which.
Apple says that encryption protections remain in place for certain services, specifically for iCloud Keychain ( which shares your passwords across your devices ), the Health app, Messages, and FaceTime. Anything else, from European users ‘ cloud safe-keeping to photos and even bookmarks, may soon become fully accessible by American authorities.
Apple wrapped up its statement by saying,” We have never built a secret or master key to any of our products or services and we never did.”  ,
You may discover that there is a missing element in that statement. Because the Investigatory Powers Act forbids it from speaking about the Investigatory Powers Act in public, Apple said nothing about the laws that Britain forced it to agree with. Convenient, eh? Nowhere in the world is Apple ( or any other business affected by it ) justify its conformity with the Investigatory Powers Act without facing legal challenges in Britain.
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London is, in effect, exporting repression, just like His Majesty’s authorities tried to force spyware into every phone.
Our unique connection with Britain  , — despite Winston Churchill’s funny joke about us being” two individuals separated by a typical language” — was built on a shared culture of independence. When London began to violate American rights, Americans began to feel revolution. That common tenet served as the foundation for Anglo-American connections for at least a decade. Just last week, I warned that Europe’s increasing dictatorship is a real threat to our relationships, and nowhere is that more accurate than in Britain.  ,
Recommended:  , DOGE May Hold the Key to Entry up all of Washington’s Dirtiest Secrets
