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Apple calls for changes to UK government Investigatory Powers Bill
DB News: 22/12/2015 - 11:52
Technology company Apple has warned that the government’s Investigatory Powers Bill could weaken the security of ‘personal data of millions of law abiding citizens’.
In a submission to the Bill committee, the firm expressed major concerns and called for wholesale changes before the Bill is passed.
It said: “We believe it would be wrong to weaken security for hundreds of millions of law-abiding customers so that it will also be weaker for the very few who pose a threat. In this rapidly evolving cyber-threat environment, companies should remain free to implement strong encryption to protect customers.”
Currently the Investigatory Powers Bill, presented to the House of Commons by the Home Secretary Theresa May, is at the committee stage.
In the submission, Apple highlighted areas of the Bill that it wants to see changed. In particular, the company claimed part of the Bill could give the government power to demand Apple changes the way its messaging services iMessage works. Apple claims this would weaken encryption and enable the security services to eavesdrop on iMessage for the first time.
However, the government maintains the legislation does no more than incorporate previous powers granted under Ripa, an earlier piece of legislation.
In its submission, Apple said: “The creation of backdoors and intercept capabilities would weaken the protections built into Apple products and endanger all our customers. A key left under the doormat would not just be there for the good guys. The bad guys would find it too.
“It would place businesses like Apple – whose relationship with customers is in part built on a sense of trust about how data will be handled – in a very difficult position.”
Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, said: “We believe very strongly in end-to-end encryption and no back doors. We don’t think people want us to read their messages. We don’t feel we have the right to read their emails.
“Any back door is a back door for everyone. Everybody wants to crack down on terrorists. Everybody wants to be secure. The question is how. Opening a back door can have very dire consequences.”
Other technology firms have also opposed the Bill, claiming other aspects of the Bill which require them to store browsing data for a year, not only presents a security hazard but could cause broadband bills to rise.
