Brits agree to change course, but Tim still shtum.
The U.S. administration is celebrating a “mutually beneficial understanding” with the UK, meaning Apple won’t need to backdoor iCloud. (As we learned six months ago, those pesky Brits were demanding Apple break its end-to-end encryption, also known as Advanced Data Protection—ADP.) National intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard and White House veep JD Vance seem happy about it, anyway.
However, it’s not entirely clear that anything’s really changed. In today’s SB Blogwatch, we doctor the spin.
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: ST:TOS holodeck retcon.
ADP E2EE vs. UK
What’s the craic? Kanishka Singh and Sam Tabahriti report: US spy chief Gabbard says UK agreed to drop ‘backdoor’ mandate for Apple
“Apple did not immediately respond”
Gabbard [said] she had worked for months with Britain, along with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, to arrive at a deal. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was in Washington on Monday along with other European leaders to meet Trump. … A spokesperson for the British government said on Tuesday that while they would not comment on any agreement, Britain had long worked with the U.S. to tackle security threats while seeking to protect the privacy of citizens in both countries.
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Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Gabbard’s statement. … The iPhone maker withdrew its [ADP] feature for British users in February following the UK order. Users of Apple’s iPhones, Macs and other devices can enable the feature to ensure that only they — and not even Apple — can unlock data stored on its cloud.
OK, so, good news, yeah? Not so fast. Here’s Alexander Martin: UK ‘agrees to drop’ demand over Apple iCloud encryption, US intelligence head claims
“Terrorism and child sexual abuse”
Although the legal demand, formally known as a Technical Capability Notice (TCN), has been characterised as a “back door” by its opponents, the British government has historically disputed [that]. It stressed on Tuesday that under existing legal arrangements, British law enforcement is not allowed to target U.S. citizens anywhere in the world or any persons located inside the U.S. itself [and that it] would simply force Apple to maintain the ability to respond to legal warrants seeking that content.
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[The] British government spokesperson said: “We have long had joint security and intelligence arrangements with the US to tackle the most serious threats such as terrorism and child sexual abuse, including the role played by fast-moving technology in enabling those threats. Those arrangements have long contained safeguards to protect privacy and sovereignty. … We will continue to build on those arrangements and … we will always take all actions necessary at the domestic level to keep UK citizens safe.”
Horse’s mouth? Tulsi Gabbard goes off script:
I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside [the President] and [Vice President], to ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our Constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected. … The UK has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a “back door” that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties.
Also, JD Vance’s anonymous spoke spake thuswise:
Vice-president JD Vance, who was recently on [vacation] in the UK, intervened to ensure Britain agreed, … according to a US official: “The vice-president negotiated a mutually beneficial understanding that the UK government will withdraw the current back-door order to Apple.”
How does Apple like them apples? Omen_20 likes it a lot:
Great. Now to defeat the other stupidity from Europe, their proposed Chat Control laws.
Sooo, that’s it then? We’re going to pretend like nothing happened? Heed the thoughts of B:
[Apple might] “Partition” the iCloud internally to ringfence the data of American citizens, while handing over access to the data of UK citizens to the UK government. Why would Vance describe it as a “mutually beneficial understanding” if the UK government got absolutely nothing in return?
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And both Vance and Gabbard are very careful to talk like lawyers, about only “the data of US citizens” — Apple’s customer base is far bigger than just US citizens. Also, while all the current noise is exclusively about Apple, is it logical to assume that the UK government would have also approached Samsung, and that the Korean government might not have had quite so many qualms as the US government?
Sauce for the goose? smudge takes a gander at the news: [You’re fired—Ed.]
Reciprocate, please! … Now how about the US legislation that can compel US companies to hand over data no matter where collected, where stored, or to whom it refers?
Of course, if you’re against back doors, you’re for child abuse, right? Wrong, thinks MacMann:
When will they learn? Where do politicians get the idea that they can order companies to put in back doors on encryption? How much longer do we need to have this debate on “think of the children” violations of human rights before these politicians learn the harm that comes from such violations?
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It’s not that I’m calling only UK out for this nonsense, we see plenty of this in the USA still. … It’s as if the politicians have never read a history book on how seemingly minor abuses of government authority have lead to tyranny.
Is there more to this than meets the eye? DrScientist mistrusts the UK’s equivalent of the NSA:
Or perhaps GCHQ don’t need Apple to access the data any more — indeed the whole demanding access might have been a smoke screen to make people think it’s secure.
Really? Well, duh. After all, GCHQ invented public key crypto, several years before RSA. It’s all a bit fishy, thinks Ceviche Lover:
LOL announcements like these are just theater in order to get people to think they have privacy. They don’t. If Israel has access to software like Pegasus then you better believe the US and UK already have access to it or have their own similar spyware.
Meanwhile, hardlianotion cheers from Over There:
Just rejoice that in this one case, the spinelessness of our elected representatives has some, perhaps temporary, upside.
And Finally:
CW: Tobacco use; alcohol use; possible blackface.
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