The United Kingdom Government has ordered Apple Inc. to build a back door to give access to world user data, in a movement that could generate one of the greatest privacy fights in the history of the iPhone manufacturer.

The British authorities in an order not revealed in January asked Apple to avoid that the encryption that the company uses to ensure the data of the users stored in their cloud services, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The mandate orders Apple to provide access under the United Kingdom research powers, a law that granted officials the authority to force companies to eliminate encryption under what is known as a “notice of technical capacity” . The law also makes it illegal for companies to reveal when the government has made such order.

Apple declined to comment on the matter. In March 2024, he said that “protecting the privacy of our users and the safety of their data is in the heart of everything we do” and said it is “deeply concerned about the proposed amendments.”

“It is an unprecedented overrequalization by the government and, if promulgated, the United Kingdom could try to secretly veto new world user protections that customers prevent us,” the company said at that time.

“We do not comment on operational matters, even, for example, confirm or deny the existence of such notices,” said a spokesman for the United Kingdom’s house office.

It seems that the situation is related to the 2022 launch of ICloud Advanced Data Protection, an optional feature that figure most of the data within the ICLOUD account of a user, including their text messages and backup copies of the device. A solution could be that Apple disables the mechanism for British users.

The development, reported on Friday by the Washington Post, marks a significant escalation in a dispute of years on encryption and access to private data of users between Western governments and technology companies.

Apple has previously resisted government pressure to weaken or avoid encryption with the argument that such movement would undermine privacy and cybersecurity. The authorities argue that they need to access users’ data to carry out national security and criminal investigations.

Caroline Wilson Palow, Legal Director of the London Rights Group, Privacy International, said the United Kingdom was trying to force Apple’s hand and had “tightened the trigger” in one of its surveillance powers “more intrusive and potentially harmful “

“As it has long threatened, the United Kingdom has finally moved against Apple in an attempt to undermine end -to -end encryption,” said Wilson Palow. “This overreach establishes an enormously harmful precedent and can be emboldened abusive regimes around the world.”

The main technology companies, including Apple, Google by Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp., have expressed concern that the United Kingdom authorities can force them to install a “back door” to avoid their encryption.

Apple has defended the use of encryption in its products, saying that it was “critical to protect everyday citizens from illegal surveillance, identity theft, fraud and data infractions, and serves as invaluable protection for journalists, activists of human rights and diplomats that can be attacked by malicious actors. “

The United Kingdom Government has frequently criticized social networks and messaging platforms due Terrorism and child sexual exploitation.

In 2020, the officials of the United Kingdom, together with the counterparts in the US Technology that “allow access to the application of the law to the content in a readable and usable format.”

Following the 2015 San Bernardino shooting, the FBI asked Apple to build a back door to give the office access to the data of the attack perpetrators. Apple refused, creating a massive privacy scandal in the United States. The problem was ultimately solved when the United States government used a third to decipher the shooter device.

Photography: A flag outside an Apple Inc. store in downtown London, United Kingdom, on Monday, January 27, 2025. Photo credit: Jason Alden/Bloomberg

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