Like many other countries, the UK government also wants a ‘backdoor’ in the encryption of communications applications. Such backdoors do not actually exist: they are deliberate security holes, which sooner or later will also be exploited by malicious parties. Apple has often fiercely opposed such laws, but now the company is rejecting them. Apple will withdraw services such as FaceTime and iMessage from the UK if the government does include its proposed prosecution under the new security law.

Secretly want to eavesdrop

With the updated ‘Investigative Powers Act’, the UK government wants to force companies to disable certain security functions without informing the public, and immediately if the government requests it. Currently, applications for faucets and the like still have to be reviewed by independent inspectors, and companies can appeal.

The plan also faced resistance from WhatsApp and Signal. Signal also threatened to leave the UK if its plans went ahead. Apple says it refuses to weaken security for all its users if one country asks. The company also points out the practical impossibility: security and encryption functions cannot be turned off unnoticed and at the touch of a button. Users will then have to install the update themselves.

“There is a level of arrogance and ignorance on the part of the government if they think the bigger tech companies will agree to these new demands without major resistance,” Professor Alan Woodward of Surrey University told The New York Times. BBC.

Europe is also considering requirements

In the EU, requirements similar to those in the UK are also being considered. For example, if it were up to Spain, end-to-end encryption would be banned throughout the EU.

The Netherlands currently seems to have a more pragmatic attitude towards encryption. Some ministers have called for breaking encryption in the past, but the public now seems to realize that this will do more harm than good.

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