Apple pulls encryption feature from UK over government spying demands

Apple has stopped offering its end-to-end encrypted iCloud storage, Advanced Data Protection (ADP), to new users in the UK, and will require existing users to disable the feature at some point in the future. The move comes following reports earlier this month that UK security services requested Apple grant them backdoor access to worldwide users’ encrypted backups. “Apple can no longer offer Advanced Data Protection (ADP) in the United Kingdom to new users and current UK users will eventually need to disable this security feature,“ says Apple spokesperson Julien Trosdorf in a statement to The Verge. “We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy.” ADP works by protecting iCloud data with end-to-end encryption, meaning it can only be decrypted by the person who owns the iCloud account on their own devices. Apple originally launched ADP in ... Read full article.