LONDON: The UK government has renewed its demand for Apple to hand over data uploaded by its users to the cloud.
This latest request only concerns British citizens who are customers of the US tech behemoth.
The demand is nonetheless likely to create fresh friction in the transatlantic relationship.
Washington has been highly critical of foreign entities seeking to regulate Silicon Valley.
The UK government previously wanted Apple to create a “back door” to let authorities snoop on data uploaded by users.
Britain dropped that demand after months of work by US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard confirmed the original demand was dropped in August.
According to the Financial Times, the UK’s interior ministry made a similar request in early September.
This new request is limited specifically to British users’ data.
A UK Home Office spokesperson refused to confirm or deny the new request when contacted.
Many tech platforms pride themselves on guaranteeing privacy through encryption.
These companies have long seen providing access to law enforcement as a red line.
After the UK government’s original request, Apple ended full end-to-end encryption for British customers.
This encryption feature is known as Advanced Data Protection or ADP.
Apple confirmed it is “unable to offer Advanced Data Protection in the United Kingdom”.
The California-based giant stated it has “never built a backdoor or master key to any of our products or services”.
Apple added that it “never will” create such backdoor access to user data. – AFP