Court Rejects UK Government Bid For Secrecy On Apple Case

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) has confirmed that Apple is appealing a UK government order to provide a means of access to data secured by Apple’s Advanced Data Protection (ADP) system, siding with campaigners who had argued the proceedings must not be held in secret.

In a written ruling, IPT judges said they had refused the government’s request that the “bare details of the case”, such as its existence and by whom it was brought, be kept secret for national security reasons.

Civil liberties and news organisations had demanded increased public visibility into the case.

Secrecy

But the government had argued that national security would be damaged if the nature of the case and the parties involved were made known.

In its Monday ruling the tribunal rejected this argument, noting the extensive reporting of the legal row and emphasising the principle of open justice.

It said conducting a hearing in secret without public disclosure of the existence of the hearing would have been “ta truly extraordinary step”.

“For the reasons that are set out in our private judgement, we do not accept that the revelation of the bare details of the case would be damaging to the public interest or prejudicial to national security,” the ruling says.

The Home Office declined to comment on individual notices or legal proceedings, but said its “first priority is to keep people safe”.

It said its “longstanding and targeted” investigatory powers were subject to “robust safeguards” including judicial warrants and privacy oversight.

It emphasised that it is not seeking blanket access to Apple’s ADP-protected data, and that requests to view individual accounts would be subject to a court authorisation.

Apple referred to a previous statement in which it said it would never build a backdoor into its systems.

End-to-end encryption

ADP is an opt-in tool designed to provide Apple users with greater security for their data stored in Apple’s cloud, with only the user having access to it due to the use of end-to-end encryption.

In February the Washington Post reported that the UK government had issued a “technical capability notice” demanding a means of access to ADP-protected data, including for users outside the UK.

Apple pulled the feature from the UK in February and reports in March said that Apple was appealing, but the IPT at the time did not provide any information on the case.