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U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

washingtonpost.com

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Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

#741

Post by Auracle »

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #637
blindriver wrote: post #535

The US is the only country with codified freedoms from the government. Every other country has rights given by the government to their citizens. The US may suck every now and then, but the US constitution is one of the best things in human history. It protects us from governments like the UK that don't think they have any limits to control their citizens.

The US Constitution also guarantees birthright citizenship, but that doesn't mean the government will actually respect that right. The US Constitution only holds as long as people are willing to defend it.

That amendment has never been tested in the grounds that the Trump administration is.

It certainly wasn’t intended for the currently used purpose and will very much come down to “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” which anyone short of the best legal scholars in our country aren’t qualified to speak to.

Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

#742

Post by cbeach »

zfg wrote: post #679
cbeach wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've tried to explain the issues with the UK government's stance on digital privacy to my friends. The responses I get: * I have nothing to hide, I don't care * Oh come on, our government doesn't care what I'm up to * The UK will never be totalitarian. I'm not scared of the government * The UK civil service is incompetent and could never pull this off (fair point, although I worry about the safety of my personal data…

> and spiteful, authoritarian politicians taking power. Or spiteful, authoritarian non-politicians taking power, spreading misinformation, and censoring free speech: https://www.techdirt.com/2025/02/03/musk-shows-us-what-actua...

Musk is a libertarian not an authoritarian.

His job is to reduce the size and power of government.

Authoritarians don’t do that. Libertarians do that. Two opposite ends of the spectrum.

“Misinformation” is a very subjective word, so I’m afraid you and I will have to agree to disagree that Musk is spreading misinformation.

Don’t believe everything you read about Musk in the mainstream media. Don’t forget that the media have a vested interest in denigrating Musk, because he’s their most significant competitor, and while X exists, and we’re able to hear directly from influential people, the legacy media is powerless to control the narrative.

Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

#743

Post by somenameforme »

talldayo wrote: post #739
somenameforme wrote: post #729

There is so much utterly cynical LARPing in that article. Apple was one of the earliest members to join PRISM. [1] And given the nature of the 5-eyes surveillance [2], The British government almost certainly already has access to 'encrypted' accounts from Apple. The difference is that that access is probably not lawful, which means they need to engage in parallel construction as is already regularly done in the US [3…

Not to mention, Apple has already sheepishly admit to implementing warrantless dragnet surveillance in the United States: https://www.macrumors.com/2023/12/06/apple-governments-surve... If Apple can be compelled to keep shut about Push Notifications being bugged, who knows what else they're obligated to keep under the covers. Caveat emptor.

They overtly and actively lied about participation in PRISM, as did all companies involved (Google, Microsoft, YouTube, Facebook, etc) because they were legally obligated to lie about participation in it. It's all just so unbelievably fake and stupid. I suspect the main reason there's minimal to no anti-trust in big tech is because it's largely just become a branch of the US intelligence services.

In some way I find the Chinese system preferable in that they're completely transparent about spying and domineering the companies within the country. The only difference in the US is we actively lie about and engage in all this utterly ridiculous LARPing that makes anybody with half a head on their shoulder just despise every player involved.

About the time a country has secret courts and is forcing private entities to lie to others publicly, something has gone very wrong with the direction of the country.

Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

#744

Post by eru »

TechnicalVault wrote: post #347
matthewdgreen wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're assuming that turning off ADP in the U.K. is sufficient to appease the British Government. The Investigatory Powers Act can also be interpreted to give the U.K. the right to ask for encrypted data from users outside of the U.K. (see Apple making this exact point in a filing here [1].) Turning off ADP in the U.K. doesn't end the controversy if that's what's at stake. [1] https://bsky.app/profile/matthewdgreen.b…

It creates a nasty precedent doesn't it? If Apple can provide the UK government with foreign data, what's to stop Russia or China making them provide data on UK minister's phones, or more likely dissidents in exile? I can't see on what basis the government thinks they're going to get to be exceptional here?

Or what's keeping the US from asking for Data, too.

Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

#745

Post by noduerme »

Lio wrote: post #273

I 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…

Apple should and can just sever its relationship with the British public and let them reap the consequences of submitting to their nanny state.

Although it's worth wondering why anyone would use any type of corporate cloud backup, anyway. Certainly if you had anything worth hiding, you would disable that first. That just makes this whole endeavor that much more dubious.

Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

#746

Post by devmor »

Paradigma11 wrote: post #468
cbsks wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a reference to 1984 by George Orwell. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_geography_of_Ninet...

I know. I just dont think it fits particularly well with those cases.

But you just explained how it fits perfectly in your last comment. That’s literally the same thing that happens in the book.

Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

#747

Post by Ray20 »

aunty_helen wrote: post #357
TechnicalVault wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It creates a nasty precedent doesn't it? If Apple can provide the UK government with foreign data, what's to stop Russia or China making them provide data on UK minister's phones, or more likely dissidents in exile? I can't see on what basis the government thinks they're going to get to be exceptional here?

Why are you using Russia and China as examples of the bad guys here. They're not asking for global access to everyones data, the UK is. The UK are the bad guys.

>They're not asking for global access to everyones data, the UK is.

They literally do.

Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

#748

Post by buyucu »

botanical76 wrote: post #91

This is so disheartening. I thought we were making progress in the anti-surveillance privacy narrative, but this says otherwise. As a UK citizen, is there anything I can do to dissuade this? edit: typo

vote for people who are anti surveillance.

Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

#749

Post by Ray20 »

koiueo wrote: post #526
koiueo wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because russia is a bag guy? (Idk about China, but considering they support russia...) Have you been living under a rock?

I'll be explicit: russia is a terrorist state. Majority of russian population supports the unprovoked genocidal war it currently wages on Ukraine.

>Majority of russian population supports the unprovoked genocidal war

Yeah. And who doesn't support - went straight to gulag for 8-20 years. Fortunately, almost everyone there supports it, amazing unity.

Re: U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

#750

Post by [deleted] »

aunty_helen wrote: post #357
TechnicalVault wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It creates a nasty precedent doesn't it? If Apple can provide the UK government with foreign data, what's to stop Russia or China making them provide data on UK minister's phones, or more likely dissidents in exile? I can't see on what basis the government thinks they're going to get to be exceptional here?

Why are you using Russia and China as examples of the bad guys here. They're not asking for global access to everyones data, the UK is. The UK are the bad guys.

[deleted]
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