New tariffs on UK in 3... 2... 1... ?
U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
611–620 of 1001 posts
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#612Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are tangentially similar precedents already, such as the American FACTA law. It is obviously a quite different context, as it just relates to financial information, not all information - but it's a law from the US government, that demands foreign companies send information back to the US. The wild thing is that foreign companies actually do it. To avoid annoying the US, a lot of other governments ensure that th…
The key difference being that it is perfectly legal for the US to request data on income and gains received by US taxpayers while it is illegal for the US to spy (in certain ways) on US residents. It is completely routine for countries to exchange data on financial accounts [1]. The only aspect that makes FATCA somewhat unusual is that the US taxes US persons even when they are residents of other countries. [1] https…
It's legal in the same way this UK thing is legal - because there's a law justifying it. It may make more moral sense, depending on your political persuasion.
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#613Earlier quoted context omitted.
As Apple isn’t based in the UK and owes no fealty to their government. I don’t agree that your citation is relevant here. Apple is a US company. Bribing local officials to overlook the gay founder is sensible corporate practices, however uncomfortable that is to consider. Revoking privacy guarantees globally, reversing years of public opinion gains overnight, is not. The UK cannot do anything to materially harm Apple…
> As Apple isn’t based in the UK and owes no fealty to their government Apple isn't based in China, they owe nothing to them either. Apple's willingness to backdoor and modify their services for actual authoritarianism is well[0] documented[1], at no point did they ever threaten to leave the respective markets. Every single spectator knows that Apple leaving these markets would be an admission of guilt. > Bribing loc…
> That hasn't been "sensible corporate practice" since American civil rights were instated.
About that... https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-equal-employment-opportun...
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#614Further proof against the idea that we live in "democracies", if anyone still believes that. We're at the hands of petty tyrants. Modern societies are surveillance hellholes, and it seems to only get worse and worse. So much for "progress".
I think this is unnecessarily defeatist. The UK is still a well functioning democracy. Using scare quotes around proper democracy just blurs the line to authoritarians and dictators. We elect our politicians. We demand they stop serious crime and terrorism. When they have bad ideas about how to do that, we let them know that it's a bad idea. Or we don't elect them again. This works.
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Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#615I don't think the UK government would try to put Apple out of business if they don't comply it's more likely that they would just get heavily fined until they do so. The most likely outcome, I would guess, is that Apple just stop offering Advanced Data Protection as a service in the UK rather than create some kind of backdoor. It's a weak proposition from the government because anyone with something to hide will just…
Sounds like you're assuming that UK's goal is to stop criminals. I don't think that's their goal. I think that's their cover story.
As for Apple, their daily/hourly/whatever fines might be less than cost of a major ad campaign if they were to buy that publicity directly. Sounds like a good deal for them to refuse to honor the request.
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#616Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#617All of a sudden, 100 nerds start seeing the UK government for what it's been: tyrannical.
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#618Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well that's just negotiation and PR. That's why I asked about previous examples - judge them by what they do, not say Guess we'll have to see what happens in a few months
It' s also what they testified they would do. >Apple previously made its stance public when it formally opposed the UK government's power to issue Technical Capability Notices in testimony submitted in March 2024 and warned that it would withdraw security features from the UK market if forced to comply. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/02/uk-demands-apple...
Apple may withdraw security feature, which is unclear what that achieves at all. Apple will not withdraw all sales in a country for privacy of that country’s citizens, as evidenced in China.
UK demanding to see private information for citizens in other countries though..
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#619Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're talking about that, but it's unclear why, because it's not an example of someone being jailed for "disagreeing with the extreme left on social media". It's also a silly story. The dual criminality requirement, and various other considerations, make it virtually certain that no such extradition will occur. Those who fear that the UK is descending into a dystopian hell may be comforted to know that we have the w…
This line of reasoning -- "don't worry about these authoritarian power grabs, they're spearheaded by incompetent bozos" -- is faulty. Look at what's happening in the US right now! I'm not in either country but I'm pretty outraged at the amount of this crap going on all over the western world. I'm also an Apple customer but I'm pretty upset that I have to rely on a big corporation to defend my right to privacy from fo…
I didn’t tell you not to worry about authoritarian power grabs. I was just pointing out that you’re going off on a tangent rather than responding to the question that was asked.
Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
#620> the law actually makes it a criminal offense to reveal that the government even made such a demand.
Why is it tho ? The government has something to hide ? i mean it's complete bullshit, citizen have the right to privacy and government has the obligation of transparency and being accountable to its citizens.
When did the UK turned into a middle east dictatorship ?
> Google has enforced default encryption for Android phone backups since 2018. 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.
That is absolutely laughable. If the uk government couldn't access google data, they would have ordered google the same thing they did with apple.
Apple theoretically can't access their user data when e2e encryption is enabled yet the uk government doesn't care. how does that differ from google ?
once again, if you want your data to be safe from google, apple, and the others you got to avoid all cloud and resort to use good old hard drive with encryption.
the only ones getting fcked are once again the average people who don't have much to hide in the first place, the pedophiles and terrorist they are much more aware than the old fart at the government on how to stay hidden.