The UK has dropped its demand for a special access to Apple’s cloud systems, or a “backdoor,” following negotiations with the Trump administration, according to U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, TechCrunch reported.
“A a result, the U.K. has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a ‘back door’ that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties,” Gabbard wrote in a post on X. She also claimed that she worked along President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the negotiations.
This is the latest (and unexpected) development in a months-long saga that saw the British government secretly demanding Apple grant its authorities access — essentially asking for a backdoor to the encrypted data of iCloud users, effectively anywhere in the world, particularly those who turn on Advanced Data Protection (or ADP), an opt-in security feature. ADP turns on end-to-end encryption for iCloud, meaning only the user can access their files stored on Apple’s cloud servers.
The Verge reported: The United Kingdom will no longer force Apple to provide backdoor access to secure data protected by the company’s iCloud encryption service, according to US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
“Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside @Potus and @VP, to ensure American’s private data remains private and our Constitutional right and civil liberties are protected,” Gabbard posted to X on Monday. “As a result, the UK has agreed to drop its mandate for Apple to provide a ‘back door’ that would have enabled access to the protected encryption data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties.”
This announcement follows the UK issuing a secret order in January this year, demanding Apple provide it with backdoor access to encrypted files uploaded by users worldwide. In response, Apple pulled the ability for new users in the UK to sign up to its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) encrypted iCloud storage offering, and challenged the order, willing the right to publicly discuss the case in April.
Earlier this year, US officials started examining whether the UK and US officials started examining whether the UK order had violated the bilateral CLOUD Act agreement, which bars the UK and US from issuing demands for each other’s data.
BBC reported: The US director of national intelligence says the UK has withdrawn its controversial demand to access global Apple users’ data if required.
Tulsi Gabbard said in a post on X the UK had agreed to drop its instruction of the tech giant to provide a “back door” which would have “enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens and encroached on our civil liberties.”
The BBC understands Apple has not yet received any formal communication from either the US or UK governments.
“We do not comment on operational matters, including or denying the existence of such notices,” a UK government spokesperson said.