Washington Post: ‘Biden Justice Department Downplayed U.K. Demand for Apple “Back Door”’

Joseph Menn, reporting for The Washington Post:

The U.S. Justice Department told Congress in November there were no major disputes with the United Kingdom over how the two allies seek data from each other’s communication companies.

But at that time, officials knew British authorities were preparing a demand that Apple build a back door to its users’ encrypted data, according to people familiar with the process, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal department matters. [...]

The department said it reminded its British counterpart of the CLOUD Act’s “requirement that the terms of the Agreement shall not create any obligation that providers be capable of decrypting data.” The report did not mention the looming order, and said any demands for reduced security would come under Britain’s Investigatory Powers Act, and so were not within the scope of the CLOUD Act.

On Wednesday, Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, both California Democrats, faulted the November certification, saying “it splits the finest of hairs” by suggesting that the CLOUD Act didn’t apply to any decryption order. The two lawmakers, who sit on the Judiciary committees in their respective chambers of Congress, asked Bondi to reconsider whether Britain was violating the Cloud Act by ordering a break to Apple’s encryption.

Two of the people familiar with the certification process said the FBI has pursued backdoor capabilities unsuccessfully in the United States and would have been in a stronger legal position to win that if Apple had already had to create such a mechanism for another government.

Just utterly disgraceful behavior from the Biden administration — choosing to look the other way at a clear violation of the CLOUD Act to help their purported buddies in the UK, at the direct expense of a US company’s autonomy and US citizens’ privacy. I don’t see how this dissembling can be defended. Upon learning of the UK’s odious demands on Apple, the Biden administration’s response wasn’t to defend Apple (or Americans’ privacy), but instead to try to hide it from Congress. Unreal.

★ Wednesday, 26 February 2025