U.S. Lawmakers Urge U.K. Secretive Investigatory Powers Tribunal to Hold Public Hearing Regarding Demand for Secret iCloud Backdoor

Zack Whittaker, reporting for TechCrunch:

A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers are urging the head of the U.K.’s surveillance court to hold an open hearing into Apple’s anticipated challenge of an alleged secret U.K. government legal demand.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, along with four other federal lawmakers, said in a letter this week to the president of the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) that it is “in the public interest” that any hearings about the alleged order are not held in secret.

From the letter, signed by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Congresspeople Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Warren Davidson (R-OH):

We write to request the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) remove the cloak of secrecy related to notices given to American technology companies by the United Kingdom, which infringes on free speech and privacy, undermines important United States Congress and U.K. parliamentary oversight, harms national security, and ultimately, undermines the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. [...]

Given the significant technical complexity of this issue, as well as the important national security harms that will result from weakening cybersecurity defenses, it is imperative that the U.K.’s technical demands of Apple — and of any other U.S. companies — be subjected to robust, public analysis and debate by cybersecurity experts. Secret court hearings featuring intelligence agencies and a handful of individuals approved by them do not enable robust challenges on highly technical matters. Moreover, given the potential impact on U.S. national security, it is vital that American cybersecurity experts be permitted to analyze and comment on the security of what is proposed.

★ Friday, 14 March 2025