According to the Financial TimesAccording to reports, the British government may be forced to abandon plans to force Apple to build a backdoor to access encrypted user data. In February this year, it was reported that the British government hadsecret requestApple grants it access to all files uploaded toiCloudof encrypted user content. The UK government argued the powers were necessary for law enforcement and security services to investigate serious crimes such as terrorism and child sexual abuse and were unprecedented in any other democracy.
In response, Apple removed Advanced Data Protection from the UK and launched legal action in an attempt to have the claim dismissed.
Now, a senior British official told the Financial Times that the UK may abandon the plan due to pressure from the US government:
The Vice President of the United States is very angry about this and must solve this problem. The Home Office essentially had to back down.
One of the challenges with our ongoing technology collaboration is the issue of encryption. That's a red line in the United States - they don't want us interfering with their tech companies.
Requirements to build a backdoor into iCloud and break Apple's end-to-end encryption threaten to stymie Britain's key technology deal with the United States on cooperation on artificial intelligence and data, and have already sparked friction between the two governments. Senior U.S. government officials, including the president, vice president and director of national intelligence, have strongly opposed the British government's request.
The Financial Times stated that the British Home Office’s handling of Apple’s encryption issue was “very poor” and is now “in dire straits.” For now, the government appears to be moving forward with the request and appears to be discussing next steps with lawyers this month.