Apple Opposes UK Online Safety Bill's 'Spy Clause'

upstart writes:

Not the iPhone maker's first think-of-the-children rodeo:

Apple has joined the rapidly growing chorus of tech organizations calling on British lawmakers to revise the nation's Online Safety Bill - which for now is in the hands of the House of Lords - so that it safeguards strong end-to-end encryption.

"End-to-end encryption is a critical capability that protects the privacy of journalists, human rights activists, and diplomats," Apple argued in a statement to the media.

"It also helps everyday citizens defend themselves from surveillance, identity theft, fraud, and data breaches. The Online Safety Bill poses a serious threat to this protection, and could put UK citizens at greater risk."

Apple, you may remember, announced in December 2022 that it will provide end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for most iCloud services.

"Apple urges the government to amend the bill to protect strong end-to-end encryption for the benefit of all," the iGiant's statement on the internet bill continued.

[...] As the draft law is currently written, the UK's communications watchdog Ofcom will have the power to instruct chat app makers and other tech companies to monitor conversations and posts for child sexual abuse material and terrorism content. Such data should be blocked or deleted when found, and potentially even reported to the cops, the government hopes.

If that doesn't lead to apps watering down or backdooring their E2EE so that data can be inspected in transit, it may bring about automated on-device scanning, which could end up censoring people's private chats or leaking them to the authorities - whether illegal activity was correctly or incorrectly detected. Such technology would be government-accredited, which means the app makers may have little choice over its eventual implementation.

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