UK, US Said to Hold Talks in Bid to Resolve Apple Encryption Feud

British officials have held private talks with their US counterparts in an attempt to resolve concerns that the UK is trying to force Apple Inc. to build a backdoor into Americans' encrypted data, according to people familiar with the matter.

The high-level discussions took place after Apple removed its most advanced encrypted security feature for cloud data in the UK. That was a response to an order by British authorities in January asking the company to circumvent encryption to help them pursue certain national security and criminal investigations.

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard last month called for an inquiry into the matter, raising concerns about what she called a “clear and egregious violation of Americans' privacy and civil liberties.” The suggestion of a backdoor into Apple users' data would also “open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors,” she warned.

On Friday, Apple's appeal against the UK order will be heard at a secret hearing at London's High Court, the BBC reported. The hearing will be held in private because it relates to Britain's security services.

Apple didn't respond to a request for comment, and Gabbard's office had no immediate comment.

Behind the scenes, conversations have taken place between senior UK and US officials, initiated by the British side in an attempt to resolve the dispute, according to people familiar with the matter. Part of the discussions aimed to correct what the British side said was a misinformed narrative alleging they were seeking wide-ranging powers to access people's communications.

The British officials stressed that they weren't asking for blanket access to users' personal data, and that they would only ever request data relating to the investigations of the most serious crimes, in particular terrorism and child sexual abuse. Separate warrants would have to be approved for each individual request, the people familiar with the matter said. They would be focused on criminals in the UK, not US residents, they added.

The rights of American citizens were safeguarded in the UK-US Data Access Agreement signed in 2019, the people said.

A UK Home Office representative said the agency doesn't comment on operational matters. The spokesperson added: “More broadly, the UK has a longstanding position of protecting our citizens from the very worst crimes, such as child sex abuse and terrorism, at the same time as protecting people's privacy.”

An Apple Inc. store in central London. The company is appealing an order from authorities in the UK asking Apple to circumvent encryption to help them pursue certain national security and criminal investigations

Joint cooperation between the UK and US on intelligence sharing was essential and would continue under the new US administration, a British official said.

Apple has previously accused the UK government of “unprecedented overreach” and alleged that “the UK could attempt to secretly veto new user protections globally preventing us from ever offering them to customers.”

The move to pull its encryption feature — rather than complying and building a backdoor — was seen as a clear rebuke of the government's order. “As we have said many times before, we have never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services and we never will,” Apple said last month.

Human rights groups Liberty and Privacy International announced Thursday that they are seeking to join Apple in challenging the order at the hearing. Caroline Wilson Palow, legal director at Privacy International, said that the UK's action would “undermine security” for Apple users and the legal challenge aimed to “shed a light on this deeply troubling power.”

“People the world over rely on end-to-end encryption to protect themselves from harassment and oppression,” she said. “No country should have the power to undermine that protection for everyone.”

Separately on Thursday, a bipartisan group of US lawmakers called on the UK court that is overseeing the case to remove what they called a “gag order.” The order was “violating the free speech rights of US companies and impairing Congress' power and duty to conduct oversight on matters of national security,” the lawmakers said.

“Given the significant technical complexity of this issue, as well as the important national security harms that will result from weakening cybersecurity defenses, it is imperative that the UK's technical demands of Apple — and of any other US companies — be subjected to robust, public analysis and debate by cybersecurity experts,” wrote the lawmakers, including Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Representative Andy Biggs, a Republican from Arizona.

The UK's order asks Apple to provide access to user data under the Investigatory Powers Act, a law that granted officials the authority to compel companies to remove encryption under what's known as a “technical capability notice.” The power also makes it illegal for companies to reveal when the government has made such an order.

Apple has long defended using encryption in its products, saying that it's “critical to shielding everyday citizens from unlawful surveillance, identity theft, fraud and data breaches.” The technology also serves as “an invaluable protection for journalists, human rights activists and diplomats who may be targeted by malicious actors,” the Cupertino, California-based company has said.

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