Ben Lovejoy reports:
We learned earlier this year that the British government had secretly ordered Apple to create a backdoor into encrypted data for all iCloud users worldwide. Specifically, it wanted a way to see personal data protected by Apple’s introduction of Advanced Data Protection (ADP), which extended end-to-end encryption to almost all iCloud data, meaning not even the iPhone maker could access it.
Apple has been fighting the secret order in secret court hearings, but it now appears that the US government is using technology agreement negotiations to force Britain to back down …
[…]
The government had been insistent that it would not back down on its demand, but the Financial Times reports that the US government has found a way to pressure it into doing so – by threatening UK-US technology agreements.
“This is something that the vice-president is very annoyed about and which needs to be resolved,” said an official in the UK’s technology department. “The Home Office is basically going to have to back down.”
Two officials said the UK decision to force Apple to break its end-to-end encryption — which has been raised multiple times by top officials in Donald Trump’s administration — could impede technology agreements with the US […]
The officials both said the Home Office […] would probably have to retreat in the face of pressure from senior leaders in Washington
Read more at 9to5Mac.