Apple complaint: Great Britain’s secret lighting has an end

Now it is no longer an official that Great Britain’s Apple government wants to oblige to incorporate a backdoor in the iCloud. This became known in early February through media reports. In court, the iPhone manufacturer was now able to record a first complaint. The order can thus be addressed publicly. Even that was initially denied that after using the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) by the British Ministry of the Interior.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal provided in his decision published on Monday However, it is now clear: the publication of the mere existence of the lawsuit, the details or the identity of the parties does not endanger national security. The Ministry of the Interior even wanted the fact that a hearing takes place, made a matter of the closure, as can be seen from the court’s judgment.

Just a start

With the decision, Apple is still a long way from stopping the arrangement itself. The other hearings also remain a closure for the time being. Apple had switched off the end-to-end encryption for the iCloud in response to the arrangement in Great Britain. The company was able to avoid the obligation to install a backdoor that users would have affected worldwide. The US government had also loudly protested this.

For Apple and civil rights activists, the judgment is at least a first glimmer of hope for the upcoming other disputes in court. Among other things, it will be about the powers of the Ministry of the Interior to arrange the so -called “Technical Capability Notices”. The Great Britain Security and Spy Act makes such secret instructions possible. The government can therefore demand tech companies to derive encrypted content from backups and other data of all users worldwide at the request of the authorities in the United Kingdom.

“Expert border crossing”

Apple had warned the London government a year before the current arrangement of an “unprecedented border crossing”. Critics see the law as a secret attack on data protection. Above all, it is questionable that it enables a procedure in the hidden – supposedly in the interest of national security, but presumably in the interest of not having to face a public discussion.

Against the orders can initially only be raised in secret objection, which Apple has now successfully made. However, the appeal procedure had no suspensive effect.