Apple Inc.UK Home Office secretly ordered Apple to build an iPhone/iCloud encryption backdoor, which Apple refused and had to remove Advanced Data Protection in Britain.

Apple has asked the Investigatory Powers Tribunal to lift restrictions that bar the Home Office from confirming it secretly ordered the company to build a "backdoor" into iPhones. The US technology giant, joined by human-rights organisations Liberty and Privacy International, argued at a case-management hearing on Thursday that confirming the order's existence would let the legal challenge be heard in public. The Home Office ordered Apple last year to break the encryption protecting iPhone users' iCloud accounts, which hold photos, files, contacts and messages, even when users have enabled the most advanced protection features. Apple has refused, saying it would never build a way to break its own encryption, and has instead removed its "Advanced Data Protection" feature for everyone in Britain. Daniel Beard KC, for Apple, said lifting the restrictions would allow "facts to be deployed in the open"; Ben Jaffey KC, for the campaign groups, called the secrecy "farcical" and the "emperor's new clothes", while Neil Sheldon KC, for Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, said departures from "neither confirm nor deny" inevitably weaken its effectiveness. The three-person tribunal, led by its president Lady Carmichael, did not rule. The order was first issued early last year by then home secretary Yvette Cooper, dropped under pressure from the Trump administration, and replaced by a second order applying only to people in Britain.
Apple Inc.UK Home Office secretly ordered Apple to build an iPhone/iCloud encryption backdoor, which Apple refused and had to remove Advanced Data Protection in Britain.
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