Besides the many trade, geopolitical and security issues plaguing the relations between the US under President Donald J. Trump and the European ‘allies’, another sticking point is bound to be the matter of freedom of speech and privacy rights of citizens.
After the UK, under leftist PM Keir Starmer, secretly ordered Apple to create a ‘backdoor’ into the iPhone users’ encrypted data worldwide, the new U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, called it an ‘egregious’ violation of American rights.
Gabbard also said it could violate a law regarding cooperation in investigations between the countries.
The new DNI wrote yesterday (25) to Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona), disclosing that she had directed a legal review of the UK’s secret order.
She said that she had not known of it before it was reported, and acted after the legislators’ appeal to her.
The Washington Post reported:
“’I share your grave concern about the serious implications of the United Kingdom, or any foreign country, requiring Apple or any company to create a `backdoor’ that would allow access to Americans’ personal encrypted data’, she wrote in response. ‘This would be a clear and egregious violation of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, and open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors’.”
“Apple was forbidden from disclosing the order to Congress or U.S. regulators by the U.K. Home Office under the Investigatory Powers Act, which allows British officials to compel communications and technology providers to assist in government inquiries. The order required Apple to develop the capability to defeat the strong encryption in its optional Advanced Data Protection cloud data storage so that officials could request access to individuals’ data in the same way they do for ordinary iCloud backups and storage.”
But, instead of complying, Apple pulled the secure storage from U.K. customers entirely, stating that it had never built a back door into its products and never would.
The encrypted storage capability remains available everywhere else in the world.
“Even that pullout would not be enough to end the U.K. demand that the tech giant create the back door for spying on those in other countries. Gabbard’s complaints might do that, and she pledged to keep Congress apprised.”
The CLOUD agreement bars the British from deliberately seeking information on Americans, but if Starmer forces the creation of a universal back door, it would create ‘a new target for hackers and spies elsewhere’.
“’Any information sharing between a government — any government — and private companies must be done in a manner that respects and protects the U.S. law and the Constitutional rights of U.S. citizens’, Gabbard wrote. ‘I look forward to ensuring the UK government has taken necessary actions to protect the privacy of American citizens, consistent with the CLOUD Act and other applicable laws, irrespective of any press reporting’.”
Read more:
The post Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard Calls UK Ordering Apple To Create ‘Backdoor’ To Encrypted Costumer Data an ‘Egregious’ Violation of Americans’ Rights appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.