US agencies probing UK demands for Apple backdoor access
The United States government has launched a probe to determine if the United Kingdom has reneged on a bilateral agreement, over British demands placed on Apple.
The investigation has been opened after reports claimed the U.K. government has instructed Apple to build a global backdoor into iCloud, venturing into data that even the tech giant cannot currently reach.
In a letter sent from Tulsi Gabbard, President Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, to Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, she has asserted that the White House was unaware of the secret demand made by her counterparts in the U.K. Home Office.
In her return correspondence to Wyden and Biggs, she has outlined concerns that the British government may have broken a bilateral agreement on privacy and surveillance, due to the expectations placed on Apple.
The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD Act), passed by Congress in 2018, sets an agreement between the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions to share data for serious crime investigations, with embedded protections for privacy, civil liberties, and online transparency.
This week, Apple has rushed to fix an iPhone dictation glitch that swapped “racist” to “Trump”.
The CIA, NSA and multiple other US intelligence agencies have been asked to examine a reported request from the UK government for Apple to implement a backdoor in their encryption.
