Apple Says It Will Exit The UK Market If Government Passes Update To Investigatory Powers Act

Privacy

from the you've-been-warned dept

Apple fought the law and — contrary to the song lyrics — it won. Years later, Apple decided it would get ahead of the law enforcement curve by attempting to engage in client-side scanning of iPhone users’ content. That worked out less well for Apple, which (at least momentarily) decided making governments happy was more important than protecting its customers.

Since setting itself on fire, Apple has reverted to its former self: the company that prides itself on user privacy and security. Plenty of world governments hate Apple for doing this. But they don’t have any leverage. Apple products and services are far more popular with government constituents than the governments themselves. So, when governments start making unreasonable demands, the simplest solution is to GTFO.

Apple has consistently opposed the act, originally dubbed a “snooper’s charter” by critics. Its submission to the current consultation is nine pages long, opposing:

• having to tell the Home Office of any changes to product security features before they are released
• the requirement for non-UK-based companies to comply with changes that would affect their product globally – such as providing a backdoor to end-to-end encryption
• having to take action immediately if a notice to disable or block a feature is received from the Home Office, rather than waiting until after the demand has been reviewed or appealed against

Apple says:

• It would not make changes to security features specifically for one country that would weaken a product for all users.
• Some changes would require issuing a software update so could not be made secretly
• The proposals “constitute a serious and direct threat to data security and information privacy” that would affect people outside the UK

This is Apple’s response to proposed changes to the “Snooper’s Charter,” a.k.a. the Investigatory Powers Act. Apple has already expressed extreme reluctance to engage in encryption breaking or client-side scanning as proposed by the European Union.

Amendments to the IPA would undermine Apple’s security features. Because of that, Apple’s comment submission lets the UK government know that if it moves ahead with these changes, UK customers will no longer have access to FaceTime or iMessage. And if those two offerings aren’t available, it hardly makes senses for UK residents to purchase iPhones if they wish to have access to secure communications options.

And this latest government intrusion would be on top of whatever eventually makes its way into the Online Safety Act, a parallel bit of legislation which would impose client-side scanning on service providers. And that imposition means those offering end-to-end encryption would have to weaken or break their encryption to spy on users’ communications. This proposal has also faced heavy resistance, but proponents of the law seem pretty fucking resilient and have refused to back down from these demands, unlike the EU Commission, which has pretty much abandoned its demands for broken encryption. (Also of note: the EU Court of Justice found IPA’s predecessor to be unlawful back in 2016. Brexit makes this meaningless, but it does demonstrate how far outside the bounds of respected rights this proposal treads.)

If the UK government decides it’s more important to give the government power than give constituents secure communication options, UK residents will end up having to utilize whatever options remain. And those options will be far less secure and far more sketchy than those long-offered by tech companies who have spent years improving the security of their offerings.

Filed Under: encryption, investigatory powers act, security, snooper's charter, surveillance, uk
Companies: apple