An obscure british government commissione is to be asked this month to advise home secretare yvette cooper to go ahead with government demands that apple provides Companies iCloud Advanced Data Protection System, Enabling British Spies to Secretly Copy And read users' Private Data.
The Government Committee, Called The Technical Advisory Board (Tab), is charged with reviewing secrets giving And files, or to monitor their calls and videos. Enquiries by Computer Weekly This Week Reveled, Astonishingly, that home office had failed to renew the contracts for tab members.
According to a leak to the Washington postPreviously reported hereThe Home Office Issued A “Technical Capability Notice” to Apple in January, Ordering Them to Remove “Electronic Protection” to “Allow access to data that is otherwiseWise unavailable dupe to encryption.” The company has 28 days to ask the home secretary to review the order.
Government plans 'devastating' for uk innovation
After getting a review request, cooper is legally obliged to ask the advisory board to consider the “financial conscript consequences” for apple if they complete. “Requiring them to destroy the integrity and security of their safest world storage system would be devasting for the uk's reputation as a centi for secure innovation” Or IAN brown. “It would also be Breathtakingly Naive and Danger
The UK's Technical Advisory Board is Legally Supposed to “REPRESENT The Interests of Persons on Whoom Obligations May Be Imposed.” But apple is not and have been represented on the tab. Nor Are Google or Meta or Any Other Us and European Companies Offering Similar Capabilites to Apple, and who could be threatened with similar secret orders.
Apple “Would Never Build a Backdoor”, The company said in a 2024 statement. IF FACED With Legal Force, The Company Warned, Thei Belt “Publicly withdraw Critical Security Features from the UK market, depariving uk users of these protects.” This apple statement was published in opposition to multiple changes to britain's 2016 Investigation Power Act (IPA) Thein Being Considered in the Uk Parliament.
Industry Regulation Specialists Expect that, if the home office person, apple would have to withdraw from the uk. The Consequence for the UK Government's “Growth” Policies Could Be Immense.
Home Office Could become Global Regulator on Use of Encryption
Throwing Down Its Challenge Last Year, Apple Told Parliament That Laws Britain Wanted a single affiliate Telecommunications services in the united kingdom. ,
“There is no reason why the uk should have the authority to decide for citizens of the world will they can avail themselves of the proven Security Benefits That Flow from End-to-End Encryption.”
Querying wheether the british government had any actual power to control us companies, the memo noted that “the ipa perports to apply extrarritorially, permitting the home office to assistant to assistant Uirements on Providers Located in Other Countries and that Apply to their users Globally ”(Emphasis added). Apple's Conduct to date has flouted the uk's claims to have legal rights to impose secondas.
According to the government website The Technical Advisory Board has an “Independent” Chair, and two other independent named members, Six “Industry Representatives” and Anknown Number of Civil Servants and Intelligencay Actions Such as Gchq and the National Crime Agency.
Independent Chair is ex-screw deputy director
The “Independent” Chair of the Board is Jonathan W Hoyle, A Former Civil Servant and Deputy Director of the Gchq Signals Intelligence Agency. At the same time as Taking Up Repeated Contracts as the Chair of Tab Since 2015, Mr Hoyle Moved from Gchq To Backcor Equipment to the British and American Governments.
A second “Independent” member of tab, mr alan burnaet has been produced manager for the same period at roke manor research ltd, another major british supplier of Signals intellagenc Chq. In 2011, Mr Burnett and Roke Manor Boasted of Being the First to Build “Aquila – The most advanced lawful intercept and cyber probe“Working at 100 ghz and enabling gchq and other intelligence agencies” to inspect 100 per cent of content 100 per cent of the time “.
Six “Industry representatives” are also listed, none of whom appear to have training or experience that would assist them to Advise the home secretary on “Financial CONSECECES”. Four represent British communications providers (Sky, Vodafone, Virginmediao2 and the GSM Association).
Tab Members Contracts Expired
Enquiries by Computer Weekly Have Revealed that the home office has not been paying close Attention to support or managing the board member. According to a 2022 Government Press releaseThe contrast for the Chair expired in August and the Contracts for all but two listed tab members expired last month. Asked if the contracts had recently ben renewed by the home secretary, a press officer initialy claimed that tab was “a non-depertmental government committee”. She then referred our enquari to a home office email address for the board, listed on the government website.
The home office position then changed after two members of tab told computer weekly that they were not received that their contracts had expired. Tab Member Neil Brown of Decoded Legal Called The Home Office and was Told that his Contract was “to be renewed for a further term”. “I am grateful to you for pointing that out,” he added. Mr brown further said that he was not removed
Any British backdoor imposed on apple users would have to subvert and defeat apple's complex security systems. These were upgraded in December 2022, the Company's security manual explains“When the user turns on Advanced Data Protection, their Trusted Device… Initiates the removal of… Service keys from apple data centers… This deletion is immediative, permament and earVocable. After the keys are deleted, apple can no longer access any of the data protected by the user's service keys… ”.
User data is then “Protected with the new key, which is controlled soly by the user's trusted devices, and [is] Never available to apple. “
To work, The UK Technical Capability Notice will have to explain how Apple Cold Create a Way For Britain to Steal Targeted Users' Keys from selected Apple devices on Demand. The methods normally used Attack So-Called “End Points”
If US lawmakers now require that apple revree the specific demands the uk wants to make of the corporation, it will be possible for us technical experts to see if any realist or posic is a realist Or they may confirm that the home office has been promoting magical and impossible thinking, as most cybersecurity experts have been reepeated for over Over 30 years.
Magical thinking
There is “No realistic way to leave a door open for good guys and democracies that have rigorous checks and balances but not for cybercriminals or authoritarian states”, according to Cameron Perry of the Brookings Institution.
“No Amount of Magical Thinking Can Undo The Contradiction Between Promoting Strong Encryption as a Defense Against The Barrage of Identity Theft, Espionage, And Over Cybercrides with NEW VILNERATIE Ry added. “Backdoors undermine not only security, but also the competitive position of US companies”.
Were their wishes to be granted, the home office would have to go through many further stages of getting specific legal and technical approval to obtain crypto keys, either agaividuals or against large numbers of apple users (*Bulk Warrants “) Or against specific groups or classes (” themetic warrants “). They would have to serve “Equipment Interference Warrants”, to enable health “updates” and tampered apps to be sent to targeted apple devices located in the uk.
Such updates and apps would be official malware. This would mean that to follow home office wishes, Regarded by academic and Industry Experts as Fantasy, Apple Bold also have to disable their own security and malware protectives s from noticing that their shields were down.
The home office is not permitted to go ahead until bot the tab has reported back, and a Judicial Commissioner has re-re-rapproved the notice.
Court Battle and Repeated appeals
Even if some tab members now warn the home secretary not to proceed, they may be ignored. The government's only posible next step then If a case is broughd, a judge would impose a fin, or be asked to apply an injunction with, perhaps, a large and growing penalty for non-compliance. But apple count and likely would appeal reepeatedly – in British courts including the Investigate Powers Tribunal, and to the European Court of Human Rights.
As the Possible Legal Actions in British Law are against “Persons” of NightMare Proceedings Against Decision Takers in the United States, Bring them to Trial, If needed be by extradition. If the British Government Asks is alternatively for Large Financial Penalties, they might be found in breach of trade agrements by international bodies.
The home office was warned in 2015 by apple and others that “purported extraritorial application” of the act was unnforceable. Were they to seek to depart and jail apple ceo tim cook for disobedience to a secret british order, they would face further and very public derision.
Fiasco in the Making
The Technical Advisory Board will be aware of, and should have to consider the Recent Revection Get into and exploit us law enforcement access backdoors Into Telephone and Communications Providers to spy on us citizens and agencies.
In the last Resort, Apple Have said they would withdraw the security of adp from uk users. If stiff fighted with absurdly large financial penalties, they could withdraw entryly rather rather than pay or face seizure.
Apple Inc and the Home Office Have to Date Both Declined to Comment officially or Attributably on the notice.
The home office appears to be decided with a fiaasco of their own. According to Eric Kind, An Expert in Survelance Technology and Privacy Rights, Who was Hired By The Investigate Powers Commissioners' Office to Help Set Up The New Law In 2016, ” s has beforehand – which is that Government Decide to Drop it for Fear of Too MUCH Spilling Into The Public during the Court Battle ”.