- Google has just confirmed that you have not received any official request from the United Kingdom Government to weaken encryption or provide access to the rear door to user data
- Earl this year, Apple was asked to provide an encryption rear door in the advanced data protection function of its ICLOUD
- This marks an increasing division in how technological giants are affected by the controversial Law on the United Kingdom’s research powers and its global implications for privacy
Google has just admitted that the United Kingdom government has not requested access to end -to -end encrypted user data.
Meanwhile, Apple has been affected by a technical capacity notice (TCN) under the 2016 Research Powers Law (IPA), which forces it to close its advanced ICLOUD data protection function in the United Kingdom as a result.
The violent reaction that followed the United Kingdom’s request for access to Extreme to Apple extreme data resonated throughout the rest of the world. Now it turns out that the application may have been more directed than it seemed, with apparently immune Google for now.
“We have not received a notice of technical capacities”
In February of this year, the United Kingdom authorities requested that Apple break their end -to -end encryption policies in the advanced data protection function (ADP). ADP is not activated by default, but when enabled, add an additional security layer. Not even Apple can access the data that have been encrypted in this way; It is completely private.
As expected, the order did not find a warm reception. The growing scrutiny of the United Kingdom Research Powers (IPA) led US senators to investigate whether other companies have also received similar applications.
According to TechCrunch, Google refused to answer questions about any participation of the United Kingdom government when the American senator Roy Wyden requested it. Companies that are subject to government surveillance orders cannot reveal them according to the United Kingdom Law.
However, Wyden revealed that at least one technology giant confirmed that he has not received such a notice. That turned out to be a goal, that he told Wyden’s office in March that he had not received an order to attribute his encryption services.
Although Google remained silent, there seems to have broken that vote of silence in a statement to TechCrunch. Karl Ryan, Google spokesman, said: “We have not received a notice of technical capacities.”
That is a confirmation as good as we will arrive in this situation. If Google had received such warning, it would imply that the United Kingdom government was surveying whether a rear door could be added to its end -to -end encryption or not.
Ryan also told Techcrunch: “We have never built any mechanism or ‘rear door’ to avoid end -to -end encryption in our products. If we say that a product is encrypted from end to extreme, it is.”
The United Kingdom government could still go back
When asked to build a back door in his ADP service, Apple decided to deactivate the function for users in the United Kingdom, leaving them without access to additional data protection.
Although the use of one of the best VPN services can help boost online privacy of brits, it will certainly not replace the protection of end -to -end encryption of ICloud from which users of other countries can benefit.
The order was widely criticized worldwide, with US legislators warning against “systemic vulnerabilities.” Meanwhile, Apple decided to challenge the request in the Court.
More recently, two senior British officials revealed that the United Kingdom government could have to give up the persecution of rear figures due to the rejection of the United States government. “They don’t want us to get into their technology companies,” they said.
It doesn’t matter where this case leads, the fact that Apple was involved, but Google went unharmed, is an interesting development. Google’s non -intervention status can offer the security that the United Kingdom’s encryption demands are not as wide as they first appeared, at least not yet.
