Apple Condemns Proposed Changes to British Surveillance Law
Apple has strongly criticized the British government’s planned revision of the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), stating that it could lead to popular Apple services such as FaceTime or iMessage being removed from the UK market. This comes as other market participants, including Signal and Meta, have also opposed another legislation known as the Online Safety Bill (OSB). The IPA aims to partially overturn end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and assist investigating authorities in accessing protected communication.
The specifics of the proposed changes are still unclear, with the British government stating that it is not about creating new authorizations. However, it is known that companies will have to report to the Ministry of the Interior if they want to implement new security measures. There are also discussions about possible backdoors for encryption, which would be installed globally, as well as giving the Ministry of the Interior the power to prompt companies to disable security functions more quickly. The implementation of these changes would happen immediately, without the companies being given the opportunity to defend themselves.
Apple emphasizes in its statement that its security functions will never be weakened for a single country, as it would affect all users. In addition, changes to security measures cannot be kept secret from users since software updates are necessary. The company argues that the revised IPA poses a serious threat to data security and data protection, not just for UK users but for people outside the country as well.
The British Home Office claims that the Investigatory Powers Act is meant to protect the public from criminals, child molesters, and terrorists. However, it is still uncertain whether the proposed changes will be implemented. The government states that they are constantly reviewing legislation to ensure its strength, and no final decisions have been made yet.
A similar dispute regarding encryption is also taking place at the EU level, with discussions on “chat control” potentially undermining encryption and compromising user security in everyday life.
Overall, the proposed changes to the IPA and the ongoing debate surrounding encryption highlight the tension between government surveillance efforts and data privacy concerns. The outcome of these discussions will have significant implications for both technology companies and individuals’ digital rights.
