Even Google cannot deny the British surveillance order
British surveillance authorities demand worldwide access to Apple backups. Apple is not allowed to confirm this and is apparently not an isolated case.
A British secret order requires Apple to build a backdoor into strong encryption of backups and other data. There are now indications that Apple is not alone and that Google has also been served with a similar secret order. The secret orders are called Technical Capability Notice (TCN) in the UK.
The author of these lines has not received a TCN. I am allowed to state this publicly because and as long as I have not received one. If I had received one, I would not be allowed to deny or affirm this by law. And because Apple also adheres to British law, it has only informed the US Parliament that it is not allowed to say whether it has received a TCN or not.
It is striking that Google has also informed the office of US Senator Ron Wyden that it is not allowed to say anything about the case. This is not exactly a denial.
Apple fights back
Apple is trying to get out of the affair by switching off the Advanced Data Protection (ADP) add-on service in the UK. Although this weakens encryption, Apple does not believe it needs to build a backdoor into a service that is not offered in the country. However, this does not satisfy the royal intelligence services, who want to spy worldwide.
Apple is therefore taking legal action against London's secret order. It has lodged a complaint against the secret order with the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. The body, which is part of the British Home Office, describes itself as an independent institution. It decides in secret on complaints about possible breaches of the law in the use of secret investigation or surveillance methods by UK authorities.
Open letter suggests Google's involvement
Democrat Wyden, together with two other members of his party and two Republicans, has now written an open letter to the presiding judge, whose name is confidential. The US politicians are calling for the court to lift the secrecy of the surveillance orders as far as US companies are concerned. This is because it curtails freedom of speech and data protection, undermines the control of the intelligence services by the parliaments of both countries, damages national security and ultimately the “special relationship” between the United Kingdom and the United States of America, which emerged from British colonies.
"Secret court hearings with intelligence agencies and a handful of individuals approved by them do not allow for robust scrutiny in highly technical matters," the US politicians reminded the British panel. Considering the threat to US national security posed by the required backdoors, they demand that US experts be able to analyze the technical specifications and comment on their security.
In addition, the letter sent last Thursday demands that the hearings scheduled for last Friday at Apple's request and all subsequent procedural steps follow the principle of public jurisdiction. So far, the letter has had no visible success.
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