UK 'agreed to drop' demand for 'backdoor' access to Apple user data, U.S. official said

[Apple Store at 5th Ave in Manhattan, New York City]
ozgurdonmaz

U.S. director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said that the UK had “agreed to drop” its demand that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]) enable access to create a "back door" that would have allowed access to the encrypted data of American citizens.

“Over the past few months, I’ve been working closely with our partners in the UK, alongside President Trump and vice-president Vance, to ensure Americans’ private data remains private and our constitutional rights and civil liberties are protected,” Gabbard said in a statement [https://x.com/DNIGabbard/status/1957623737232007638] on X.com.

The initial U.K. order had sparked significant criticism from technology companies, privacy advocates, and lawmakers in both the U.K. and U.S., who argued that introducing a backdoor would severely undermine the privacy and security of users globally and set a dangerous precedent for data access.

Vice President JD Vance, who was recently on vacation in the UK, stepped in to get Britain to revoke an order, according to a _Financial Times_ report that cites U.S. official.

“The vice-president negotiated a mutually beneficial understanding that the UK government will withdraw the current back-door order to Apple,” the official said [https://www.ft.com/content/ab0aba27-81e0-4ee5-bcbb-6bce85386e40].

The UK order was issued in January this year under the UK Investigatory Powers Act and was strongly opposed by Vance and Gabbard and resisted by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/AAPL]). While the UK has agreed to rescind the order, it has yet to be formally withdrawn.

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