UK demands ability to access Apple users’ encrypted data
The UK government has demanded that Apple creates a backdoor in its encrypted cloud service, in a confrontation that challenges the US tech firm’s avowed stance on protecting user privacy.The Washington Post reported on Friday that the Home Office had issued a “technical capability notice” under the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), which requires companies to assist law enforcement in providing evidence.The demand, issued last month, relates to Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) service, which heavily encrypts personal data uploaded and stored remotely in Apple’s cloud servers, according to the Post, which said this was a “blanket” request that applied to any Apple user worldwide.The ADP service uses end-to-end encryption, a form of security that means only the account holder can decrypt the files and no one else can – including Apple.Apple declined to comment.
However, in a submission to parliament last year it flagged its concerns about the IPA, saying it provided the government with “authority to issue secret orders requiring providers to break encryption by inserting backdoors into their software products”.Apple touts privacy as one of its “core values” and describes it as a “fundamental human right”.The Apple document refers to the ADP feature, claiming that “reporters and technical experts across the globe” welcomed it as an “invaluable protection” for private data.The submission also indicates that Apple would refuse to cooperate with a request, saying the company would “never build a backdoor” and would rather withdraw “critical safety features” from the UK market.However, the submission also points out that the IPA allows the UK government to impose requirements on companies based in other countries that apply to users globally.
Alan Woodward, a professor of cybersecurity at Surrey University, said the UK government had “lit the blue touch paper on a truly enormous fight in the never-ending saga of the encryption debate”.He added: “I don’t see how this is to be resolved, as Apple has made such a big point of privacy for users.If they accede to this technical notice their reputation will be in tatters.They’re bound to challenge it.”End-to-end encryption has become a battleground between successive UK governments and tech companies, with ministers arguing that the technology prevents law enforcement agencies from tackling criminals, including child abusers.
Companies are also barred from revealing whether they have received a technology capability notice under the IPA.The Washington Post reported that by the time Apple made its submission in March last year the US-based company had been informed that a notice might be served on it.The newspaper said the Biden administration had been tracking the matter since the UK government told Apple it might demand access, and Apple had said it would refuse.A Home Office spokesperson said: “We do not comment on operational matters, including, for example, confirming or denying the existence of any such notices.”The submission related to amendments to the IPA passed last year under Rishi Sunak’s government and included giving ministers power to clear in advance any product changes that could alter the UK government’s ability to access users’ data.
One expert warned that the multinational nature of the order could lead to a clash with the EU, which has an agreement with the UK allowing the free flow of personal data between the EU and UK – such as a company in Europe using a datacentre in the UK.The agreement comes up for review this year.“This may provide a backdoor for access to European citizen data which could go against our ability to retain the rights to share personal data without restriction between the UK and Europe,” said Ross McKenzie, a data protection partner at the UK law firm Addleshaw Goddard.
Rothschild braces for more ‘skeletons in the cupboard’ over conduct of late chair
Senior bankers at Rothschild & Co gathered on Tuesday in a meeting room at its St Swithin’s Lane headquarters in the heart of the City of London to discuss a memo that would shake the storied financial group to its foundations.The memo, to be sent to staff on Wednesday morning, would admit for the first time that their celebrated former leader, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, had left the bank in 2004 after an allegation of sexual misconduct.There would be “more to come”, one person at the meeting said, shaking their head. Without question, there are “skeletons in every cupboard”, they said, as others expressed concerns that this could be the start of a wave of allegations putting the bank and its former chair in the spotlight.The attender was right to be worried
What do Trump’s tariffs mean for US-China trade?
Donald Trump postponed his threat to tax all imports from Mexico and Canada this week, citing action by those countries against migration and drug smuggling; but it was telling that tariffs on China went ahead.When it comes to the US’s neighbours, Trump’s Treasury secretary, the hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, made clear in a Fox News interview that tariffs are essentially a negotiating tool – partly aimed at achieving non-economic goals.But Trump’s beef with China is a much more longstanding and more widely shared one, that can be traced back to the deep imbalances between the two economic superpowers.“The grievances with China are far more genuine than grievances with Mexico, or with Canada,” says Neil Shearing, the chief economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, who is now writing a book about the clash between the rival economies.So it should not have been a surprise that Trump pressed ahead with promised 10% tariffs on China, which rapidly hit back with levies on a range of US goods
AI is developing fast, but regulators must be faster | Letters
The recent open letter regarding AI consciousness on which you report (AI systems could be ‘caused to suffer’ if consciousness achieved, says research, 3 February) highlights a genuine moral problem: if we create conscious AI (whether deliberately or inadvertently) then we would have a duty not to cause it to suffer. What the letter fails to do, however, is to capture what a big “if” this is.Some promising theories of consciousness do indeed open the door to AI consciousness. But other equally promising theories suggest that being conscious requires being an organism. Although we can look for indicators of consciousness in AI, it is very difficult – perhaps impossible – to know whether an AI is actually conscious or merely presenting the outward signs of consciousness
How some objects can have a mind of their own | Brief letters
I have great empathy with Adrian Chiles’ protectiveness of inanimate objects (Why am I so sad about seeing a robot get beaten up?, 5 February), but these objects can exercise tyranny, so we should beware the jacket that won’t let you put it on, the paper serviette that it is impervious to fluid and, of course, any self-hiding object.Jonathan HauxwellCrosshills, North Yorkshire If President Trump thinks that it is reasonable to relocate 2 million people from the Gaza Strip in the interests of peace (Report, 6 February), presumably the same logic should apply to the 500,000 Jewish settlers illegally occupying lands in the Palestinian West Bank.Ian MartinFalmouth, Cornwall If Donald Trump Jr decided to eat the rare duck he’s alleged to have shot in the Venice lagoon (Report, 5 February), would he get the orange sauce from his dad?David ProtheroHarlington, Bedfordshire When did laundry become the word for getting clothes at home clean (Pass notes, 5 February)? I still do the washing.Janet MansfieldAspatria, Cumbria A case of cutting his nose off despite his face (Makeup artist tried to remove Adrien Brody’s nose by mistake on set of The Brutalist, 6 February).Steve BarnesLondon Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section
Sri Lanka v Australia: second men’s cricket Test, day three – live
BIG WICKET! Chandimal is gone and so might the match be now for Sri Lanka. The batter used his feet and hit a powerfully struck drive but it was in the air and plucked by the bucket hands of Beau Webster at mid-off. That’s 550 Test wickets for Nathan Lyon too. He’ll have his eyes on a few more this afternoon.13th over: Sri Lanka 37-2 (Chandimal 11, Mathews 4) Angelo Mathews is the new man, he flicks over midwicket for four but did not look anywhere near in control
Hundred auction leaves counties feeling flush but no longer calling the shots | Ali Martin
Nine years ago one county chair revealed their club’s finances were so stretched that they were quite literally counting the loo rolls. Even the arrival of the Hundred in its first iteration – bringing an extra £1.3m per county per year – barely made a dent in some cases, the additional income swallowed up by rising costs, inflation, and the servicing of longstanding, significant debts.But over the past 10 days the outlook in the shires has changed considerably (perhaps even to the point of said club eyeing the quilted variety). At the time of writing, the England and Wales Cricket Board has raised around £400m by selling 49% stakes in six of the Hundred’s eight teams
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