A secret court hearing on iCloud encryption began on Friday, amid calls in both the UK and US to make the proceedings public.The British government is demanding that Apple create backdoor access, not just for the personal data of British citizens, but for all iCloud users worldwide … The British government’s worldwide attack on ADP By default, some iCloud data uses weak encryption – where Apple holds a copy of the key, and can be required to share data with governments on receipt of a court order – while some uses strong encryption, where only the iCloud user and their devices hold the key.Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) is a privacy feature which allows Apple users to activate end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for almost all of their iCloud data.
With ADP enabled, Apple has no access to the data, and would be unable to comply with any government demands.The British government’s demand would have forced Apple to break ADP.Instead of complying, Apple withdrew the feature from UK users while it appeals the order.
The secret hearing into the secret order One of the more insidious aspects of the legislation the British government is using is that the orders issued to tech giants are secret, and any appeal against them is also held in secret.As we noted previously, Apple found a clever way to make it public.Apple was also not allowed to reveal it was appealing the order, yet that mysteriously became public too.
British journalists attended the hearing venue at the Royal Courts of Justice on Friday, but were not allowed into the courtroom.Objections raised in both the UK and US reports that multiple complaints have been filed, on both sides of the Atlantic.The reports that Privacy International and Liberty have also filed a joint complaint.
In the US, five members of Congress have also made a bipartisan demand for the hearing to be opened to public scrutiny.9to5Mac’s Take As the open letter states, this hearing is now one of the best-known “secrets” in the tech world.It is pointless as well as unreasonable to hold a crucially important privacy hearing behind closed doors.
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