Apple’s appeal against UK’s secret iCloud backdoor order must be held in public, rights groups urge

In Brief Privacy rights groups have called on Apple’s legal challenge to a secret U.K. government order asking it to backdoor an end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) version of its iCloud storage service to be heard in public, rather than behind closed doors. The existence of the order emerged via press reports last month. Apple went on to confirm it was closing the Advanced Data Protection service to U.K. users. But the surveillance order requiring it to grant law enforcement access to data stored within the E2EE service is thought to include the info of users located outside the country, too, so it’s unclear whether Apple’s move will be deemed compliant. This in turn means a lot is riding on the appeal it’s filed challenging the lawfulness of the order. Appeals on U.K. surveillance matters are heard by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) — oftentimes behind closed doors. But, in a joint letter to the president of the IPT, rights groups Big Brother Watch, Index on Censorship, and the Op ... Read full article.