U.K. demand for a back door to Apple data threatens Americans, lawmakers say

Post by scarface_74 » Thu, Feb 13, 2025, 7:39 PM UTC

impossiblefork wrote: post #146

Nifty3929 wrote: post #128

I keep saying this, and nobody believes me, but I'm just going to keep trying: These things happen because so often we focus the privacy conversation on corporations, which is exactly where the governments want it to be. My controversial but strong opinion is that privacy from corporations matters very little, but privacy from governments matters very much. We need to stop allowing the conversation to get distracted…

Corporations can steal your work, etc. and thereby cause enormous problems that do not fit governments. For me I think they're a much greater danger than at least my government. My government has no reason to care about what's on my computer. A company however, has an incentive to use every scrap.

Post by randunel » Thu, Feb 13, 2025, 7:41 PM UTC

kypro wrote: post #144

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #106

As a brit I would find it amusing if Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft jointly announced that privacy is a hill to die on, and they'd rather collectively withdraw their businesses from the UK than accede to demands like this. My government would cave within the hour.

100%. We have very little power to demand this in my opinion. Honestly I don't think Apple would even need to work with other tech giants on this (although that would help). The UK makes up a few percent of Apple's total revenues so while Apple would take a hit, they can afford to pull out of the UK and it could be worth doing if they're serious about proving how important privacy is to them. Apple will face some rep…

Post by fujinghg » Thu, Feb 13, 2025, 7:42 PM UTC

ljm wrote: post #98

kitd wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the BBC report on the matter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20g288yldko It applies to content stored using ADP, Apple's E2EE tech. A backdoor into that would mean applying a backdoor into iOS on the phone itself, which is a much larger attack surface than anything centralised. All of which highlights the clownish nature of these regulations. They are so easy for bad actors to circumvent (eg using their…

Since it seems to be illegal to even reveal if one of these requests was received, it's also worrying that, by extension, it would be illegal to declare a data breach once the backdoor was inevitably exploited by another bad actor. So, how would anybody know that a foreign government was spying on them? Nothing would stop them installing Pegasus on your phone and exfiltrating even your 'secure' data. The stupid thing…

Post by MrScruff » Thu, Feb 13, 2025, 7:43 PM UTC

kypro wrote: post #144

andyjohnson0 wrote: post #106

As a brit I would find it amusing if Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft jointly announced that privacy is a hill to die on, and they'd rather collectively withdraw their businesses from the UK than accede to demands like this. My government would cave within the hour.

100%. We have very little power to demand this in my opinion. Honestly I don't think Apple would even need to work with other tech giants on this (although that would help). The UK makes up a few percent of Apple's total revenues so while Apple would take a hit, they can afford to pull out of the UK and it could be worth doing if they're serious about proving how important privacy is to them. Apple will face some rep…

Post by itishappy » Thu, Feb 13, 2025, 7:43 PM UTC

ta1243 wrote: post #156

neogodless wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easier to not buy an iPhone than it was trying to prevent a politician I didn't trust from getting in office. In either case, collective action is, at best, the best you're going to have. Do regulations not have meaning?

You might think you're safe because you don't carry a phone, never upload a photo, etc. You drove across the country in a car you paid cash for while bemoaning cameras that catch you speeding, in the name of "privacy". Meanwhile meta knows exactly where you are as their face recognition attached it to your shadow profile when someone took a selfie with you in the background, you were seen on a ring doorbell by amazon…