On Friday, Apple confirmed that “can no longer” offer a security feature that allows users in the UK to encrypt their iCloud data.
In a statement provided by Techcronych, the Apple spokesman Fred Sainz said the company said Advanced data protection The feature will no longer be available to new users, and current users in the UK “will eventually need to disable this security feature.”
“We are very disappointed that the protection that the ADP provides will not be available to our customers in the UK, given the continuous increase in data violation and other threats to customer privacy,” the company said.
“Improving the safety of storage in the cloud with the end encryption is more in a hurry than ever before,” the statement said.
The announcement comes after The Government of the UK was reportedly ordered Apple earlier this year to build a backdoor This would allow the British authorities to “cover” users’ access to the user stored on Apple’s Cloud servers, even if they are the ultimate end encrypted. This request, seen as unprecedented in modern democracy, Alarmated Privacy and Security Expertswho claimed that if the British government prevailed, the request would set a precedent to follow the authoritarian country.
Apple offers users the ability to include the end encrypted backup ICloud through advanced data protection. This feature effectively disables anyone, including Apple and government authorities, an overview of the data stored in ICloud by the users who have applied.
The spokesman for the UK register in the UK did not immediately respond to the request of Techcrunch for comment.
Apple did not immediately say that the procedure of disabling ADP would work for users who had already included it before Friday.
James Baker, who works for the British Open Rights Group Digital Rights Organization, said that “the registration of the registry office has taken millions of Britons in an approach to a security feature. As a result, British nationals will be at greater risk of their personal data and family photographs fall into the hands of criminals and predators. “
Apple said that some types of data, including health data, messages stored in ICloud and payment information, which are completed for all users for all users, will not affect this change and will remain encrypted for everyone. But the UK users will not be able to sign up for the use of encryption to the end to the end for other types of data, such as photos, notes, backup copies, and other datawho were encrypted under ADP.
For those who already have ADP, Apple said that they will soon give customers more guidelines, as well as a period to disable the feature to continue using ICloud.
ADP does not affect users outside the United Kingdom, Apple said, and they are not affected by extremely encrypted communication services such as Facetime and Imessage.
“As we have said many times, we have never built a rear or main key to any of our products or services and will never,” Apple said, connecting with his previous statements.
BBC News reported This ADP ceased to be an option for new users on Friday at 3 pm in the UK. TechCrunch also confirmed that ADP is no longer an option for new customers in the UK.
Since the rise in the encryption in the mid-1990s, governments around the world claimed that this data removal technology will allow criminals and terrorists to violate the law while avoiding the implementation of the law. Over the years, the authorities have always found a way, from access to non -haired backups to the use of spy software, to access data directly on people’s devices.
“If you are not in the UK, you should get involved in ADP now,” said Matthew Green, a cryptography expert and teacher at Johns Hopkins University, wrote on x in response to the news.
“The more people who use it, the harder it will be to turn off this way,” Green said.
They clarified the forms of data protected in advanced data protection in the ninth item.
This story was updated to include James Baker’s statement.