Feb. 21 (UPI) — Apple on Friday pulled its Advanced Data Protection end-to-end iCloud encryption from British customers’ devices after the government requested access to the data.
The decision came in response to pressure from the British government for Apple to build a “backdoor” allowing government authorities to access user iCloud data worldwide.
“We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the U.K. given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy,” Apple said in a statement to TechCrunch.
Apple’s statement said the company has “never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products, and we never will.”
The BBC reported the British government’s Home Office demanded access to the encrypted data under Britain’s Investigatory Powers Act, after speaking to “similar contacts” mentioned in the Post’s report.
“We do not comment on operational matters, including for example confirming or denying the existence of any such notices,” the Home Office told the BBC in a statement.
Apple’s decision to pull the advanced data protection technology from Britain means that ultimately customers in Britain and the U.K. will not be able to have all iCloud data fully encrypted.
