Google won’t say if UK secretly demanded a backdoor for user data

The UK government appears to be stepping back from its controversial request for Apple to create a covert backdoor for accessing user data globally. This shift follows significant pushback from the U.S. government, which has raised concerns over privacy implications. Amid this backdrop, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden is now seeking clarity on whether other tech giants, including Google, have faced similar demands from UK authorities. Earlier this year, reports surfaced indicating that the UK Home Office had pursued a secret court order from the nation’s surveillance court, compelling Apple to permit access to encrypted cloud data for UK law enforcement. This included sensitive backups stored by customers worldwide on their iPhones and iPads. Apple's encryption safeguards user data in such a way that only the individual can access it, not even the company itself. Under UK law, tech companies subjected to these secret surveillance orders are prohibited from disclosing the existence or specifics of such demands, despite some details leaking to the public. Critics have condemned this approach as excessively harsh, warning of the global consequences for user privacy. In response, Apple has contested the legality of the order. In a recent communication to top U.S. intelligence official Tulsi Gabbard, Senator Wyden highlighted that while companies cannot confirm the receipt of UK orders, at least one major tech firm, Meta, has publicly stated it has not been subjected to such demands. Meta, which employs end-to-end encryption for its messaging services like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, assured Wyden's office that there has been no order to backdoor its encrypted systems. Meanwhile, Google has remained tight-lipped regarding whether it has received similar requests from the UK government. A spokesperson for Google stated, "We have never built any mechanism or 'backdoor' to circumvent end-to-end encryption in our products. If we say a product is end-to-end encrypted, it is." However, the company refrained from confirming or denying if any requests from the UK government had been received. Senator Wyden's letter, first reported by The Washington Post, urged Gabbard to publicly assess the national security risks associated with the UK's surveillance legislation and its alleged secret demands on U.S. companies, emphasizing the importance of transparency in these matters.