UK Unable to Keep Apple ADP Case Secret

The UK government was unable to keep the details of an Apple appeal about the use of its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) system under wraps. The court confirmed that a legal battle between them was underway.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) said it rejected a UK government request to keep the details of the case a secret, siding with a coalition of civil liberties groups and news organizations, including BBC News and Financial Times, which argued against such a move. Appealing to the potential impact on national security, the government fought against making the nature and existence of the legal action public.

However, in the ruling, the tribunal pointed out that there had already been extensive media reporting on the issue. “It would have been a truly extraordinary step to conduct a hearing entirely in secret without any public revelation of the fact that a hearing was taking place,” the IPT stated. The court added that it did not believe that revealing the bare details of the case would be damaging to the public interest or prejudicial to national security.

Apple gave up on its ADP feature in the UK in February after the Home Office requested it provide access to encrypted information on national security grounds. The company decided to remove the feature entirely instead of complying with revised regulations, which would have forced it to develop a way to open access to the end-to-end encryption used for its iCloud service.

Apple has consistently rejected requests for back door access, arguing that opening its system up would leave users vulnerable. It also opposed the request for secrecy by the UK government. Reacting to the ruling, it reiterated its statement from February, insisting: “We have never built a back door or master key to any of our products or services and we never will.” The Home Office declined to comment.