US spy chief says UK has dropped its Apple backdoor demand

In a significant shift, the United Kingdom has rescinded its request for special access to Apple's cloud infrastructure, commonly referred to as a 'backdoor.' This decision comes after extensive discussions with the Trump administration, as revealed by U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard. Gabbard announced on X that the U.K. has agreed to abandon its requirement for Apple to provide a means to access encrypted data, which would have raised serious concerns about civil liberties in the United States. She noted her involvement in the negotiations alongside President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, emphasizing the importance of safeguarding American citizens' private information. This development marks the latest chapter in a protracted saga involving the British government, which had been pushing for access to the encrypted data of iCloud users worldwide—particularly those utilizing the Advanced Data Protection (ADP) feature. The ADP enables end-to-end encryption, ensuring that only users can access their data stored on Apple's servers. The legal demand was initially brought to light by The Washington Post in February, citing the U.K.'s Investigatory Powers Act 2016, also known as the Snoopers’ Charter. This request drew widespread criticism from privacy advocates who feared its implications for global privacy standards and the potential for other governments to make similar demands. In response to the backdoor demand, Apple had previously disabled the ADP feature for new users in the U.K. and indicated that existing users might eventually need to turn off the security option. Furthermore, Apple initiated a legal challenge against the backdoor request, which was originally intended to remain confidential but was later ruled to be public. As of now, neither Apple nor the U.K. Home Office has commented on this latest development. However, Apple has consistently maintained that it has never created a backdoor for any of its products and has no intention of doing so in the future.