The writing is on the wall for the UK, has been for long, and the Labour government is going out of the way to ensure there can never be any reform, even if they have no mandate. There is one way they want to go, and they will drag their population along kicking and screaming. Anyone who can should get out.
U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
171–180 of 1001 posts
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
> As a UK citizen, is there anything I can do to dissuade this? If you voted for this Tory-lite government, then you can stop voting for any future Tory-lite governments. If you did not, there's not much you can do in practice without devoting your life to it.
But the Tories are not in power. Can't labour just repeal it?
Labour have no problem with it, just the same as the Online Safety Act which is causing chaos right now. They're fine with the legislation and have never expressed a desire to see it repealed. They didn't even do much to prevent it in the first place.
This is what the parent comment is getting at when they say "Tory-lite".
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#173> When asked by The Post whether any government had requested a backdoor, Google spokesman Ed Fernandez did not provide a direct answer but suggested none exist: "Google cannot access Android end-to-end encrypted backup data, even with a legal order," he stated. No, that does not suggest none exists, it only says they don’t have access to it. They could have chosen or have been ordered to give the keys to the governm…
> No, that does not suggest none exists, it only says they don’t have access to it. They could have chosen or have been ordered to give the keys to the government agency but not keep one themselves.
The whole definition of "end-to-end encrypted" is that only the two ends have the keys. If anyone or anything other than the two ends (the one sending and the one receiving) has access to the keys, it's not end-to-end encrypted.
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#174Not surprised, considering UK's ridiculous key disclosure law (United Kingdom
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA), Part III, activated by ministerial order in October 2007, requires persons to decrypt information and/or supply keys to government representatives to decrypt information without a court order.)
that makes anyone with high-entropy random data (which is undistinguishable from the crypto-container) a criminal for "not providing the keys to decrypt"
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#175The writing is on the wall for the UK, has been for long, and the Labour government is going out of the way to ensure there can never be any reform, even if they have no mandate. There is one way they want to go, and they will drag their population along kicking and screaming. Anyone who can should get out.
The question is increasingly becoming “where?”. Every place seems to be moving in this direction.
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't. Apple could play hardball and threaten to withdraw from the UK market, with a propaganda notification like TikTok did. They could also appeal to Trump/Elon for help. Also the wider part of this order is that Apple would access to the international users data, including US customers, if I understand the article correctly.
They're currently antagonizing Trumpelon by refusing to halt DEI stuff, so they might not get any help.
Tim Cook is a master of negotiating with governments. See how he played off China and the US during Trump's first term to avoid both American tariffs and Nike-style Chinese boycotts.
If he's antagonising Trump it's for a reason. Perhaps to avoid showing weakness by being too keen.
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#177UK tech laws seem to consistently be the worst of both worlds. Not rights centric like the EU and not business supportive like the US. Just old people making bad laws about stuff they don't understand - or are straight up citizen hostile, sometimes hard to tell which it is.
It's pretty standard for the UK gov to take a "worst of both worlds" approach.
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#178UK tech laws seem to consistently be the worst of both worlds. Not rights centric like the EU and not business supportive like the US. Just old people making bad laws about stuff they don't understand - or are straight up citizen hostile, sometimes hard to tell which it is.
Successive UK governments consistently fail to understand the UK's place in the modern world. Insisting on access to encrypted data in all jurisdictions globally is just another example of them thinking small and acting big. Its the digital equivalent of sending a gunboat to put-down the troublesome "natives". Meanwhile its 2025, not 1925.
(disclosure: brit)
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
> As a UK citizen, is there anything I can do to dissuade this? If you voted for this Tory-lite government, then you can stop voting for any future Tory-lite governments. If you did not, there's not much you can do in practice without devoting your life to it.
But the Tories are not in power. Can't labour just repeal it?
"Tory-lite" is a pejorative for Labour, the implication being that they are almost identical in behaviour.
(I very much agree with the sentiment...)
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have lived to the day that we give an example on china not doing something stupid a western democracy does about rights and freedom. Wild times to be alive. I am also surprised that they demand worldwide access and not just UK users data or all the data stored in UK jurisdiction. But this is going too far.
And if you think China and the USA and Russia wouldn't want it... hey I've got this bridge for sale.
If you, like me, didn't know where the idiom "I've got a bridge to sell you" comes from, here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Parker
George C. Parker was a conman in NYC who multiples times sold the ownership of the Brooklyn Bridge to his victims. Among other cons.