At this point, I’m old enough that you’d think I’d know not to believe that governments could ever learn their lesson. But no, it just isn’t so. A month ago I was all warm and fuzzy about the fact that the U.S. government, as a result of the Salt Typhoon exploit of the law enforcement wiretap infrastructure, was now recommending that everyone use end-to-end encryption wherever they could.
Apparently, our closest ally, the UK, didn’t get the memo. They just issued a secret order to Apple ordering them to provide a backdoor for all encrypted communications in all countries [1, 2, 3]. That means, for example, that U.S. citizens, Spanish Citizens, Chinese Citizens and everyone else would have their private communications exposed to the UK security services.
A few impressions that immediately pop out to me are:
- The UK’s record of safeguarding secrets is no better than that of the U.S. or any other country
- Their naive belief that they could issue a “secret” order and that it wouldn’t be revealed shows that they have little appreciation for today’s on-line world and the way it works. This speaks to their ability to safeguard the backdoor they’re seeking.
- The effrontery of issuing an order to a foreign business—yes, I know Apple has a presence there—and insisting that they assist them in spying on citizens of foreign countries is breathtaking. Of course, all governments want this capability but it’s hard to see how they can avoid taking the side of their citizens on this issue.
Apple has made no comment but it’s hard to see them acquiescing to this demand. The UK is a tiny part of their customer base and if the UK doesn’t back down I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple withdraw from the UK market.
In any event, it’s a stark reminder that you can’t depend on the security services in particular and governments in general to look beyond their immediate needs.