Rights bodies condemn UK government's order for Apple to hand over encrypted user data

The order, reportedly issued by the UK Home Office in January 2025, targets Apple's Advanced Data Protection feature, which employs end-to-end encryption to secure cloud-stored data.

"The United Kingdom government's order to Apple to allow access to encrypted cloud data harms the privacy rights of users in the UK and worldwide," Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said in a press release on Friday.

It added, "The UK government order is an attempt to force Apple to provide access to encrypted user data, including device backups that can include contact lists, as well as location and messaging history, for any Apple user worldwide. The secret order, which the Washington Post reported, was issued in January 2025 by the Home Office, the interior ministry, concerns Advanced Data Protection, an iPhone option that uses end-to-end encryption on data stored in the cloud, and means Apple has no access to user data stored on its servers. The UK government should drop the order."

Zach Campbell, senior surveillance researcher at HRW, expressed serious concern and highlighted the importance of secure and confidential communications for the protection of human rights.

"If these reports are true, this is an alarming overreach by the UK authorities seeking to access the private data of not only people in the UK, but anyone worldwide with an Apple account," Campbell said.

He added, "People rely on secure and confidential communications to exercise their rights. Access to device backups is access to your entire phone, and strong encryption to prevent this access should be the norm by default."

The rights organisations further reported that news reports said that the UK government ordered Apple to build a back door into its products under the Investigatory Powers Act, a 2016 surveillance law that includes provisions allowing the government to order companies to remove "electronic protection" of user data.

"The law also prohibits the recipients of these orders, in this case Apple, from acknowledging or commenting on them. The new UK order, according to the Washington Post, 'requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material' for Apple users worldwide, including users with no apparent connection to the UK," the release said.

Notably, security officials in the UK had demanded that Apple create a back door allowing them to retrieve all the content any Apple user worldwide has uploaded to the cloud, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. (ANI)