5h ago

Britain Orders Apple to Build a Backdoor Into Your iPhone

gizmodo.com Britain Orders Apple to Build a Backdoor Into Your iPhone

Under the U.K. law, it’s illegal for the company to even talk about the existence of the order.

The United Kingdom has issued a secret order to Apple. It wants the corporation to build a backdoor for Britain’s security services that it could use to access the cloud accounts of any iPhone user across the planet.

As first reported by The Washington Post, Britain issued the order in secret last month. The U.K. isn’t looking to root around in a specific account for a specific security reason. No, it wants free access to all a user’s encrypted material, full stop. The U.K is making the demand under a 2016 law called the Investigatory Powers Act, derisively known as the Snooper’s Charter.

19 comments

The United Kingdom has issued a secret order to Apple.
If they’re so bad at keeping secrets that anyone can read all about them within a month, then they have no business ordering anyone to create software backdoors.

As a British person I hope Apple pulls all iCloud services including iMessage and FaceTime, rather than comply with this demand. It’s the only way the public will notice.
- Sorry man, they won't. Those billions don't get hoarded in tax havens by themselves.

Ahh, the good old government backdoor. Maybe they should ask the Americans how well that went with their telco equipment...
- Or how it's currently going with Elon's installation of unauthorized, networked hardware in many vital government agencies.
- "The only good backdoor is my backdoor."
  Hmm, that sounds worse than I meant it to.
  
  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
  
  “The only good back door is my wife’s back door”?
- Reminder that the CISA group investigating Salt Typhoon was disbanded by the current nazi administration. Quite disturbing to think how many devices might still be compromised while the investigation has been abandoned.

Global access is wild, basically it means if the UK could force this that any five eyes country would then have the same access without needing to look bad to their citizens.
Also, how hard do we expect Apple to fight this? I have a hard time believing they would just pull out of the UK but I could be wrong. From what I understand China has this type of access because they don't allow E2EE.
- Global access is wild, basically it means if the UK could force this that any five eyes country would then have the same access without needing to look bad to their citizens.
  Doesn't the US already have that backdoor? From what you're saying, the UK probably already has access? Not attacking, sincerely asking.
  
  As far as I know Apple didn't give in, Trump and the FBI wanted it during his first term but I don't think it happened. At least I hope it didn't.
  
  Doesn’t the US already have that backdoor?
  If they do they aren't admitting it.

Won’t happen. Waste of time and taxpayer money.

Only possible as iOS fails to include a libre software license text file. We do not control it, anti-libre software.
- How so? (Genuine question)
  
  How we going to remove its backdoor when it bans us from changing, controlling, copies of its source code?

19 comments