Reports suggest that the UK secretly pressured Apple to create an iCloud backdoor, breaking a previous agreement. What do you think about this? Should companies resist these kinds of requests?
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. She has a point—forcing Apple to weaken encryption is not the way to go.
Penn said:
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. She has a point—forcing Apple to weaken encryption is not the way to go.
Yeah, I was actually surprised to see this kind of response from them. Earlier this year, I posted about how politics might affect encryption over the next few years. At least for now, they don’t seem to be pushing to weaken it. Trump used to complain that Apple wasn’t helping enough with law enforcement, so it’s a bit unexpected.
@Tru
That’s because Tulsi Gabbard actually understands the issue.
Lyle said:
@Tru
That’s because Tulsi Gabbard actually understands the issue.
Yeah, but it’s kind of sad that the only win here is the government not actively ruining something I care about while still making a mess of everything else.
@Tru
This thread is about privacy, but somehow, you’re still making it about Trump. The administration is actually against this move.
Nobody here is defending Labour. Nobody is even talking about them. But every angle in this thread seems to be about how Trump is the bad guy. It’s like brainwashing.
If a left-wing party was out there doing something absolutely horrific and Trump spoke against it, some people would still find a way to make it about him being the problem.
@Kellen
I think you meant ‘privacy’ instead of ‘piracy’—and yeah, this whole situation is messed up. I don’t know much about UK politics, but in the US, privacy debates don’t fit neatly into left vs. right. Trump has a history of pushing against encryption. When Apple refused to unlock a shooter’s iPhone, he was furious. He brought it up again in 2020, saying Apple wasn’t doing enough to help law enforcement.
Apple even delayed rolling out better encryption until after Trump’s presidency because of the pressure. If you think his administration was good for privacy, I really don’t think that’s the case. They either didn’t understand the issue or just didn’t want to fight over it.
That said, I’m not claiming the left is better either. Obama’s administration had the PRISM surveillance program, which was a disaster for privacy. I have no idea what Biden’s stance is, but last year, the FBI actually told people to use end-to-end encryption after cyberattacks from China.
So no, I’m not trying to push some ‘the left is good’ narrative. You’re in a thread specifically about iCloud and the UK, and we’ve talked about that in other discussions. This thread is mostly about the US response.
Some leftist party could do something truly awful, and people here would still just say ‘Ugh, Trump is bad.’
If Trump actually took a good stance on something like this, I’d be happy to acknowledge it. But considering he pushed for weaker encryption multiple times, I don’t think his administration deserves any praise here.
@Tru
Let’s be honest, they’re only against this because it could expose their own secrets. Protecting consumers is just a side effect.
Toby said:
@Tru
Let’s be honest, they’re only against this because it could expose their own secrets. Protecting consumers is just a side effect.
Yeah, I completely agree. It’s never really about protecting the average person. They just don’t want to deal with the consequences when it affects them personally.