Apple sues UK government over demand for encrypted data backdoor

Apple has launched legal action against the British government over its demand that the company build a "backdoor" into encrypted user data, reigniting a long-running clash between government surveillance powers and user privacy in the courts.

Apple filed a lawsuit Monday with the UK Investigatory Powers Tribunal, challenging a Technical Capability Notice issued by the British government, according to AFP, Reuters and The Guardian.

A Technical Capability Notice is a legal instrument that allows the government to compel technology companies to assist law enforcement in collecting information. The British government has demanded that Apple create technical measures enabling investigators to access data the company has encrypted.

Britain initially sought access to the encrypted data of Apple users worldwide, but backed down after friction with the United States. It subsequently issued a revised notice limiting the demand to users within the United Kingdom — a scope Apple said it still could not accept, prompting the lawsuit.

A backdoor is a covert pathway that allows access to an encrypted system or data without going through normal authentication procedures. While it would enable investigators to retrieve encrypted data, the security industry has long warned that any backdoor, once created, could be exploited by hackers and other malicious actors.

The British government maintains that access to encrypted data is essential for investigating terrorism and child sexual exploitation.

Apple, however, has repeatedly stated that it has never built a backdoor or master key into its products or services and never will. The company argues that such a tool would ultimately threaten the privacy and security of all users — not just those targeted by a specific government.

Apple pulled its Advanced Data Protection service — an end-to-end encryption feature accessible only to account holders — from the United Kingdom early last year after the government demanded a way to bypass it.

The civil liberties group Liberty also backed the lawsuit. "This case will determine the future of privacy protection," Liberty said, adding that creating a backdoor with access to all information "poses sweeping risks to personal data."

This is not the first time Apple has refused a government's backdoor demand.

In 2016, the FBI asked Apple to develop software that would bypass the security features on an iPhone belonging to a gunman behind a mass shooting, but Apple refused and took the matter to court.

Apple CEO Tim Cook warned in an open letter at the time that "a backdoor is the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — restaurants, banks, stores and homes." He added that such a tool "could be used over and over again, on any number of devices," and cautioned that while the government claimed it would be used only once, "the technology would be available for use over and over again."