http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-27/gabbard-calls-for-investigation-of-uk-s-apple-backdoor-request
By Natalia Drozdiak and Alex Wickham
Bloomberg
February 26, 2025
(Bloomberg) -- US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called for an investigation and expressed concern after the UK government ordered Apple Inc. to build a backdoor into the global data of its customers.
Gabbard said the decision could leave Americans’ encrypted data at risk of being exposed, according to a letter she sent on Tuesday to two US lawmakers who had expressed their own objections to the matter. Instead of complying with the UK and building a backdoor, Apple removed Advanced Data Protection from the country last Friday, eliminating a feature for end-to-end encrypting cloud storage, device backups and apps like notes.
“This would be a clear and egregious violation of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, and open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors,” Gabbard said in the letter to Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Andy Biggs, adding that she had not been notified by either Apple or the UK about the order before the news reports.
Gabbard said she had instructed her counterparts at the Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency to “provide insights regarding the publicly reported actions,” adding she would then “engage with UK government officials.” She said lawyers were also drafting a legal opinion on the implications of the UK demands.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday night. The letter was reported earlier by the Daily Wire.
The dispute unfolded as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is to meet with President Donald Trump in Washington on Thursday as he and other European leaders struggle to maintain trans-Atlantic ties to the new administration amid clashing approaches over how to treat Russia and its invasion of Ukraine.
A UK official said it was incorrect to suggest the British authorities were seeking blanket access to users’ personal data, stressing separate warrants are required for each individual case, and that they would only be sought to pursue terrorists, organized criminals and child abusers. Any such notices would comply with the UK-US Data Access Agreement, the official added.
Bullsh!t. The British Labour Party thinks anyone who expresses a difference of opinion with them is a "terrorist" - and they don't care if such a person is not one of their citizens - they think they have the right to go after them, no matter what (just ask Elon Musk).
A member of the so-called Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which also includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the UK is one of the closest US allies with whom it shares intelligence extensively.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
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