Today the Financial Times and BBC are reporting that the UK government is dropping its order for a back-door into Apple’s encrypted iCloud service, in what is believed to be a negotiated settlement brokered by none other than US Vice President JD Vance.

The high level pressure from the US government is symptomatic of the Trump Administration’s support for big tech, but importantly it also reflects a policy shift on encryption, prompted by the hacking of the US telecoms infrastructure last year [see my article Why would the UK take on Apple?  ]  It’s a shift that ought to have been foreseeable by the UK authorities months before they issued the demand to Apple [believed to have been in January this year]. 

The order took the form of a Technology Capability Notice, issued under the Investigatory Powers Act, requiring Apple to provide the UK government with back-door access to citizens' encrypted iCloud data service on production of a mandate. 

The Trump Administration objected to it on grounds that it threatened the privacy and Constitutional rights of Americans. Tulsi Gabbard, the US Director of National Intelligence said in a post on the social media site X, that the UK-mandated back door “would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties”.  Tulsi Gabbard indicated in her post that she had been working with Vice President Vance and President Trump to obtain the settlement, suggesting that negotiations had been going on with UK and US officials for some months. It’s understood that Vice President Vance intervened with the UK government as recently as this month, whilst on holiday here in the UK.

Ms Gabbard was alerted to the UK demand in February this year by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a long-term advocate on privacy issues. In a letter he urged her to tackle what he called the “short-sighted efforts by the United Kingdom that will undermine Americans privacy rights”,  saying the order would direct Apple "to weaken the security of its iCloud backup service to facilitate government spying."

Senator Wyden's letter highlighted the cyber-attack on the US wire-tapping infrastructure in the autumn of 2024, and how, in the wake of this attack, the US switched its  position to one where “strong end-to-end encryption protects national security”.  There was therefore a public paper trail to show the US  policy U-turn. 

Apple is mounting a legal challenge to the UK government, and enjoys the support of the US tech industries. It's not clear what will happen to the case now, but, with a market valuation of $3.79 trillion [January 2025], which is not far off the figure for UK GDP, the iPhone maker has deep enough pockets to see it through if it chooses [see  What's influencing tech policy in 2025? ]. 

It always felt to me that the UK had made an unforced error. [See Why would the UK take on Apple?]  Of course, the turn of events over the past 6 months has also switched the UK’s view of its own position internationally and its relations with an important trans-Atlantic partner. Indeed, the UK's position on the global stage has altered considerably in that time. In seeking to protect our security and economic interests, the UK government will choose to avoid any unnecessary source of tension with our allies. Arguably, this may have been less easy to foresee in January this year, but has been obvious in more recent months. Rectifying an unforced error was an inescapable response to events.  

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The two source articles were: Financial Times, UK has ‘agreed to drop’ demand for access to Apple user data, says US  and BBC News, UK backs down in Apple privacy
row, US says by Zoe Kleinman 

If you liked this article, you may also like to read my analysis of Whats App and structural power [See How WhatsApp holds structural power  ]

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