U.S. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan and Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast issued a warning to Britain on Wednesday, expressing concerns that its order for Apple to create a backdoor into its encrypted services could be exploited by cybercriminals and authoritarian regimes.
Apple, which has long maintained that it would never build such a backdoor, is challenging the order at the UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT). The company had previously withdrawn its Advanced Data Protection feature for UK users in February, following the UK’s directive.
This feature allows users to ensure that only they, rather than Apple, can unlock their data stored in the cloud.
In a joint letter to UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Jordan and Mast warned that creating vulnerabilities in end-to-end encryption systems, as required by the Technical Capability Notice (TCN), could expose Apple’s services to malicious actors. “These vulnerabilities would not only affect UK users but also American citizens and others worldwide,” they stated.
The lawmakers urged Cooper to permit Apple to disclose the existence of the order to the U.S. Department of Justice so it can assess whether it aligns with the U.S.-UK agreement under the CLOUD Act, which prohibits demands for companies to decrypt data. Under UK law, American companies would face criminal charges if they disclose or confirm such orders, even to their own government.
The letter also urged the UK government to reconsider the order, citing concerns that weakening encryption would conflict with international human rights standards, including the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling on privacy rights. The Home Office, however, has stated that a warrant would be required to access individual data.
Apple has not yet commented on the latest developments, but the ongoing dispute highlights the growing tension between privacy advocates and governments seeking greater access to encrypted communications.
