S.T.O.P Condemns UK Order For Sweeping Apple iCloud Surveillance

The civil rights group condemned the order as a repressive attack by the U.K. government on encrypted communication.

View this email in your browser For Immediate Release S.T.O.P. Condemns UK Order For Sweeping Apple iCloud Surveillance (New York, NY, 2/7/2025) - Today, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.), a New York-based privacy and civil rights group, condemns a secret order from the U.K. government to gain sweeping backdoor access to encrypted material in Apple’s iCloud. The civil rights group condemned the order as a repressive attack by the U.K. government on encrypted communication, one of the few measures Apple users’ worldwide have to protect their data from authoritarian surveillance. S.T.O.P. demanded Apple reject the measure and enforce the high privacy standards the company has marketed for decades. SEE: The Washington Post - U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/02/07/apple-encryption-backdoor-uk/ “The UK isn’t just hurting its own citizens’ privacy, it’s making Apple users, more vulnerable around the world,” said Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn. “Not only would this make countless users more at risk to be surveilled by governments, you would open up the door to a vast array of threats from hackers and cyber criminals. You can’t have a platform that is both secure and operating as a long arm of the government.” The U.K. order comes shortly after Apple launched a new integration between Siri and ChatGPT, which S.T.O.P. condemned as a fundamental break from the company’s privacy principles. In 2022, S.T.O.P. welcomed Apple’s announcement of improved privacy protections for Apple’s iCloud as “essential and overdue.”  However, the group cautioned that Apple’s choice to make most changes “opt-in” would leave the vast majority of users vulnerable. SEE: S.T.O.P. Blog - Apple unintelligent for linking Siri to ChatGPT https://www.stopspying.org/latest-news/2025/1/28/apple-unintelligent-for-linking-siri-to-chatgpt Press Release - S.T.O.P. Welcomes Apple iCloud Privacy Updates As ‘Essential & Overdue’ https://www.stopspying.org/latest-news/2022/12/7/stop-welcomes-apple-icloud-privacy-updates-as-essential-amp-overdue The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project is a non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider. S.T.O.P. litigates and advocates for privacy, fighting excessive local and state-level surveillance. Our work highlights the discriminatory impact of surveillance on Muslim Americans, immigrants, and communities of color. --END-- Copyright © 2021 Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.