(Reuters) -Apple has appealed a British government order to create a “back door” in its most secure cloud storage systems, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The iPhone maker removed its most advanced security encryption for cloud data, called Advanced Data Protection (ADP), in Britain last month, in what was an unprecedented response to government demands for access to user data.
That means Apple can access iCloud backups in certain cases that it otherwise could not, such as copies of iMessages, and hand it over to authorities if legally compelled. With end-to-end encryption enabled, even Apple could not access the data.
Governments and tech giants have long been locked in a battle over strong encryption to protect consumers’ communications, which the authorities view as an obstacle to mass surveillance and crime fighting programs. But Britain’s demands are seen as particularly sweeping.
U.S. President Donald Trump last week likened the UK government’s demand to “something that you hear about with China,” in an interview with The Spectator political magazine.
FT said Apple appealed against the order last month around the same time as it withdrew ADP from the UK, rather than comply with the technical capability notice it received from the Investigatory Powers Tribunal in January.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Apple declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Home Office declined to comment, but said that privacy “is only impacted on an exceptional basis in relation to the most serious crimes and only when it is necessary”.
Reuters reported last week that U.S. officials were investigating whether Britain violated a bilateral pact by reportedly pressuring Apple to create a “back door” for government access to encrypted cloud backups.
The move could breach the CLOUD Act, which bars the UK from issuing demands for the data of U.S. citizens and vice versa.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Krishna Chandra Eluri and Alan Barona)
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